According to Duerr, the replacement of directors at the AGM will be illegal as the SA Reserve Bank Amendment Act requires nominations for directors to be submitted three months before the meeting. The act came into effect on September 13, amending the existing act. Duerr said nominations for directors under the amended act closed on September 30, less than three months before December 8.
He demanded the election be held under the act as it was before the amendment - or that the meeting be postponed.
The bank's legal council, Johann de Jager, responded to Duerr's letter in a private e-mail that Duerr sent to Business Times. De Jager said legal opinion was that the process was legally justified and in compliance with the new law.
He asked Duerr to refrain from "swearing and using abusive language", referring to an earlier telephone conversation.
Duerr responded by accusing De Jager of "bad behaviour and arrogance", alleging De Jager had "lied to various parties" and emphasising again that the AGM would be illegal.
"It will land our Bank, owned by the shareholders only, with more trouble again (sic)," he wrote.
The AGM has customarily been held in September, shortly after the bank's annual report has been sent to shareholders. This year it was postponed to allow for the amended act to come into effect.
Among other things, the amendment seeks to stop shareholders circumventing a statutory limit of 10000 shares per shareholder and allows the bank's directors to be nominated by a broader public base.
Duerr, who said he will be at this year's AGM, attended last year's meeting barefoot and clad in traditional German lederhosen, angering then governor, Tito Mboweni.
Reserve Bank spokesman Hlengani Mathebula confirmed that the AGM would be held on December 8.
"We welcome every shareholder and any member of the public," he said.
Source: Times LIVE
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