By BAKANG MOKOTO
14 April 2025- The North West Transport Investment (NTI) has appointed the new Business Rescue Practitioner (BRP). The North West MEC for Community Safety and Transport Management, Wessels Morweng, has in November 2024, guided that an application be made to the Gauteng High Court sitting in Pretoria to remove the then BRP, Thomas Hendrick Samons.
Morweng said after experiencing financial challenges, the NTI had in July 2022, applied for a voluntary business rescue process in July 2022. He further said Samons was then appointed as the Business Rescue Practitioner (BRP).
“His primary responsibility was to turn the entity around to make it more sustainable and generate income to pay creditors primarily of who are the employees. To do this, the BRP was supposed to have developed a plan within 25 days of his appointment as stipulated by the Companies Act.
“The BRP has since failed to do all that including accounting for the money the Government has paid to the entity. Following the department’s successful application to remove him at Gauteng High Court, the BRP then applied for a leave to appeal the Gauteng High Court ruling,” said Morweng.
He said the department then lodged a Section 18 of the Superior Court Act application seeking an implementation of the initial order for his removal. Morweng said the purpose of this Section 18 is to ensure that the court ruling is enforced in spite of the BRP application for a leave to appeal.
“The judgement, which was handed down electronically on 27 March 2025, enforced the initial ruling that removed the BRP from NTI. It is following this judgement that the NTI has now appointed Mahomed Mahier Tayob as the new BRP. This, as the entity still needs to be rescued and be turned around to be profitable.
“Tayob is a senior business rescue practitioner with impressive qualifications obtained in South Africa and the UK. Among other entities Tayob has rescued include a state bus company in Gauteng and has also investigated a R2.6 billion investment scheme on behalf of the Hawks,” he said.
Morweng said Tayob will work closely with Dr Ntlhopeng Dikobe, who has been seconded by the department as the NTI acting CEO. He said Tayob is expected to present a turnaround plan and report regularly to the shareholder representative and ensure the NTI is restored to profitability.
The Guardian 