Shocking revelations have revealed that the names of the new Directors of the Home Owners Association (HOA) of Eldoglen Estate, who were elected on August 17, have still not been captured by CIPRO, the government entity.
This means that any decisions taken by the new Board are not effective and that decisions taken by the old Board after the election date are illegal.
Thus, payments, contracts, instructions, employment by either parties after the election date would be regarded as null and void and constitute a serious breach of the companies act. It is believed that the manager of the estate, Firoze Amod, together with the estate’s auditors, were meant to have the new directors names logged in with CIPRO. According to a local auditor, it takes between 1-3 days to have the confirmed name change of directors on the register of CIPRO.
At the same time, complaints against the controversial recently elected chairperson of the HOA, Aboo Baker Gani, known as Baker, have been pouring in since the irregular election of the Board of Directors on August 17.
Many residents from the estate told the Laudium Sun that they were surprised to find the once friendly Baker now seemingly arrogant and having an ‘attitude’ since his appointment as chair.
Baker has also been accused by one of the Directors of the Board of siding with previous board members, in that he has apparently refused to have a forensic audit done on the activity of the HOA for the past 10 years, more so to check if all decisions taken by the then Directors and the Estate Manager were in fact done via proper resolutions of the Board and whether such decisions were carried out according to the fiduciary duties of the Directors. This includes an obligation to act honestly, in good faith and in the best interest of the HOA rather than for personal benefit.
The Laudium Sun understands that there are many important documents of the HOA that are missing, including the original contract with Firoze and the contract with the security companies, past and present. Thus it is unknown when Firoze started working for the HOA, what were the conditions of employment, how many hours he is supposed to work onsite, who gave him permission to have other jobs and how was his performance to be evaluated.
It is believed that another contract was recently signed with Firoze, but it is unknown if the board approved the new contract. Also, an official handover by the outgoing Directors and in particular the former chair, Arshad Abba, was apparently not done.
Questions are now being asked as to who approved and who checked quotations for repairs, security, garden services and other expenses.
However, it is believed that Baker was keeping the new Directors in the dark with regards to overseeing the effective running of the HOA, but instead has given himself the authority to make unilateral decisions after consulting with the former Directors and the Estate Manager.
Residents have also accused Baker as the chair and Firoze as the Manager, of allowing or turning a blind eye concerning racism at the Estate. This follows several residents complaining to the Laudium Sun that the security guards at the entrance gates of the Estate were clearly ‘instructed’ to conduct security checks in a racist manner.
It is believed that Black passengers in a vehicle entering the Estate were required to submit their identification, irrespective of whether the driver was a resident or not, while passengers of other race groups were not asked to produce their IDs.
Residents claim that when they complained about the racism at the office of the Estate, they were ‘shut down’ by a rude Zeenat Gani, who was apparently hired by Firoze and who earns about four times the salary compared to that of her previous job as a receptionist.
Zeenat was suddenly appointed as Finance and Operation Manager, with many residents questioning her academic qualifications in this regard,whether her post was advertised and who actually interviewed her.
There have been calls for Baker and Firoze to be reported to the Human Rights Commission for practicing and promoting racism at the Estate.
Baker and Firoze have, without the mandate of the new Board, also refused to appoint sub-committees unless the volunteers of those committees sign a non-disclosure clause, which would restrict them from informing or communicating with fellow HOA members on issues concerning the Estate.
It is believed that the old Board, and now with the approval of Baker, have agreed to pay Firoze a whopping R80k a month salary and colluded with him not to pay any taxes to SARS. Instead, it is believed they agreed that Firoze could furnish an invoice each month, this despite Firoze being on record stating that his main work is at the Estate and that it is not a part-time job.
It is believed that the HOA also agreed that Zeenat also produce an invoice in order to avoid taxes.
Furthermore, the Laudium Sun understands that Firoze has now taken up another part time job at Raslouw Village Estate.
Baker has also refused to have an independent enquiry concerning the irregular and biased manner in which the recent elections for Directors were held.
It is believed that with the assistance of Firoze, the process was manipulated, in that shockingly, even the voted ballot forms inserted in the voting box were removed apparently on the instructions of Firoze, with apparently the auditors counting the ballots at another venue without the presence of the candidates and any independent persons chosen by the HOA members.
Surprisingly, the votes cast were not a secret, as the Laudium Sun has seen a list which is doing the rounds, as to how each resident or his/her proxy had voted and for whom. This because each ballot form issued to the voter or his/her proxy was marked with the homeowner’s details on it.
Questions are also being asked as to how the auditors, who are supposed to be professionals, allowed this voting process mess-up to take place.
Baker has also been accused of being biased against women, as he went against the nomination of the only woman on the Board, who is also a CA, as head of finance, despite a number of the Directors supporting her nomination.
A Director told the Laudium Sun that even the current finance head, who has been in the position for years, agreed that ‘new blood’ should be brought in, to head the finance portfolio as it was not healthy for any of the Directors to be in the same portfolio for so many years, especially finance.
*The Laudium Sun sent a number of questions to Baker for his response on the allegations made, but at the time of going to press, no response was received.