The Recycling and Economic Development Initiative of SA (Redisa) says it is committed to reviving its operations following the finding by the Supreme Court of Appeal that it was the subject of a campaign to ruin the programme.

On 24 January 2019, the SCA overturned final liquidation orders against Redisa, granted in 2017 at based on a request from former environmental affairs minister, the late Dr Edna Molewa.

According to Redisa the SCA judgement found that the Minister had conducted a persistent campaign to ruin the organisation and to take over its assets based on misrepresentation, selective reporting, contradictions and lack of comprehension.

Key findings

Key findings of the judgement include, among others:

• The SCA found the Minister’s claim that Redisa’s directors had not declared their interests in management company Kusaga Taka Consulting was false;
• The SCA found that contrary to the Minister’s claims, Kusaga Taka’s management fee was 18% of the total levy, less than the 20% allowed by the plan;
• The SCA found that the Minister was wrong and misleading to allege an alarming and sinister dissipation of cash at Redisa;
• The SCA found that the depletion of the company’s reserves was due to the fact that the Minister had made direct attempts to cut off its funding source – the tyre levy;
• The SCA found that the Minister did not have sufficient concerns to act urgently and her skewed disclosures and non-disclosures were extensive;
• The SCA found that the allegation that Redisa executives were excessively remunerated was false;
• The SCA found that the court order that Redisa assets be distributed to the Waste Management Bureau (WMB), a public body established under the Waste Act, was patently unlawful and in violation of s 25 of the Constitution;
• The SCA found that there was no proof to assertions by the Minister that there existed an intention to divert funds to Redisa’s executive directors or that there existed a conspiracy to defraud the public purse;
• The SCA found that Kusaga Taka Consulting had not received any payments from Redisa other than what was provided for under the Plan; and
• The SCA found that the existence of the management agreement between Redisa and Kusaga Taka Consulting was consistent with the fact that they were two separate entities and properly treated as such by each other.

Resuming operations

Redisa executive director Stacey Davidson says the SCA judgement thoughtfully and thoroughly discredited the allegations made against the programme and hoped that it would now bring the matter to a close.

Going forward Davidson says its management team was conducting a comprehensive analysis of the extent of the backlog that ensued following the unlawful liquidation in 2017 with the aim of resuming operations in the shortest possible time.

Maximising value for stakeholders

“From the time Redisa was set up, our innovative waste management model was commended for its efficiency and effectiveness and the value it created for all its stakeholders, including the thousands of previously unemployed who were able to make a living from tyre collection, storage and processing. Our goal now is to ensure that we are able to resume operations and again maximise the value to all stakeholders and, in the process, help drive growth in the economy,” says Davidson.

“We stand by our programme’s effectiveness in dealing with this serious environmental situation, exacerbated by the minister’s ill-informed actions, and want to assure South Africans that we will do everything in our power to get our systems back on track so that we can deal with this crisis.”