investments genre private equity founded may 1996 1 founder iqbal surv headquarters cape town south africa subsidiaries african equity empowerment investments website www.aeei.co.za african equity empowerment investments type public traded as jse aee industry diversified investments genre private equity founded april 2015 headquarters cape town south africa revenue r258 .8 million fy 2015 2 operating income r45 .9 million fy 2015 2 net income r35 .3 million fy 2015 2 total assets r1245 million 2 number of employees 2150 3 parent sekunjalo investments website www.aeei.co.za sekunjalo investment holdings parent company of african equity empowerment investments is a south africa based private equity firm specializing in acquisitions pipes and buyouts . it has principal operations in publishing internet fishing healthcare pharmaceuticals telecommunication financial services aquaculture biotechnology enterprise development events management travel . the company was founded by iqbal surv 4 in 1996 with the aim of investing and assisting black owned businesses . in april 2015 all of sekunjalo s investment s except it s 55 % ownership in independent media sa was spun off into a new company still owned by sekunjalo investments known as african equity empowerment investments . contents 1 business model 2 african equity empowerment investments 3 media interests 4 investments 4.1 african equity empowerment investments 5 controversy 5.1 sekunjalo marine services consortium tender 5.2 accusations of undue interference at the cape times 5.3 accusations of pro anc bias 6 see also 7 references 8 external links business model edit sekunjalo s investment model is to seek above average returns in their portfolio and to have scalable social impact especially on the african continent . the group is committed to the upliftment of previously marginalised groups by creating employment emphasising development and transferring of skills . 5 african equity empowerment investments edit in april 2015 sekunjalo investments limited sil was renamed african equity empowerment investments aeei to avoid confusion with its mother company sekunjalo holdings . holdings became a privately held company whilst aeei took sekunjalo s publicly traded status on the johannesburg stock exchange trading under the ticker aee . sekunjalo investments kept its 55 % stake in independent news and media sa but all other investments were spun off into aeei so as to better reflect the underlying businesses and investments of the group going forward and to differentiate from the private holding company . 6 founder iqbal surv stepped down from managing all investments held by aeei so as to focus on the company s media holdings . 7 media interests edit sekunjalo independent media consortium is a privately owned and separately controlled segment company that is not directly related to the publicly listed african equity empowerment investments segment of the sekunjalo investments parent company . sekunjalo holds 55 % ownership of cape town based independent news and media south africa inmsa with the remaining ownership made up of chinese and public investment corporation of south africa a south african government owned company . 8 two chinese state owned enterprises china international television corporation and the china africa development fund invested r400 million in the deal to acquire 20 % of the newspaper . 9 the public investment corporation of south africa invested r500 million to acquire a 25 % share . the purchase of the south african based media group from independent news and media was concluded in august 2013 for 150 million r2 billion . according to the mail and guardian sekunjalo independent media s 55 % purchase of inmsa was largely funded with a loan from the government owned public investment corporation and government employees pension fund . 10 investments edit sekunjalo independent media consortium independent news and media sa 55 % ownership 8 independent online south africa 11 the star south africa saturday star daily voice south african newspaper cape times cape argus weekend argus business report sunday independent pretoria news weekend pretoria news the post sunday tribune south africa the mercury daily news diamond fields advertiser isolezwe african news agency african equity empowerment investments edit list of health related investments genius biotherapeutics pty ltd pharmaceutical research and production ribotech pharmaceuticals cancer drugs sekpharma vitamin supplements and other pharmaceutical products wynberg pharmaceuticals list of technology and telecoms related investments emergent energy renewable energy solutions saratoga software software development health system technologies an ict systems services provider digital matter software development world wide creative digital marketing afrozaar software development list of marine related investments premier fishing fishing marine growers atlantic abalone aquaculture focus on abalone cultivation list of strategic investments aeei has strategic investments in the following companies in south africa british telecomms south africa a south african subsidiary of bt group saab south africa a south african subsidiary of saab group pioneer foods processed foods list of service sector related investments aeei has strategic investments in the following companies in south africa espafrika events management enterprise development tourism services controversy edit sekunjalo marine services consortium tender edit in december 2011 the sekunjalo subsidiary sekunjalo marine services consortium was awarded an r800 million equivalent to roughly us 98 million in 2011 12 tender to combat illegal fishing along the south african coastline . three months later the competition commission stated that it was looking into allegations of bid rigging by the company after it emerged that the company had submitted four separate bids under different company and consortium names which were all accompanied by sekunjalo s 2010 annual report . 13 additional concerns were raised over possible conflict of interests that neither the company nor the department of agriculture forestry and fisheries adequately addressed over one of its holdings premier fishing also having a fishing licence at the time when the contract was awarded . 13 14 on 5 december 2013 the south african public protector released its report on accusations that the contract to manage south africa s fleet of fishing patrol vessels was improperly handled and awarded to sekunjalo s marine service consortium . the report found that the awarding of the r800 million a year contract was improper and did not comply with the department of agriculture forestry and fisheries supply chain management requirements . 15 the public protector found that the head of the department s tender evaluation had been irrational biased and improper in its awarding of the bid to sekunjalo . 16 in the final report sekunjalo was largely cleared of charges of collusion and corruption with the public protector deciding to refer the matter to the south african competition commission for further investigation . 17 the contract was previously held by rival marine services firm smit amandla marine until it expired in 2011 and a new bidding process started . smit amand marine complained that its contract bid application had been leaked to sekunjalo . the contract was initially awarded to sekunjalo only to withdraw it and instead gave smit amandla one month to hand over their operation to the south african navy . the department then found that the navy could not properly maintain the fleet of six patrol vessels and issued an emergency tender to nautic sa and damen shipyards . 15 accusations of undue interference at the cape times edit play media right2know campaign and other civil society organisations hold a picket outside newspaper house to protest against the replacement of cape times editor alide dasnois . also present at the demonstration are counter demonstrators waving printed red white and black placards demonstrating in favour of the replacement of dasnois . on the 5th of december 2013 former president and struggle hero of south africa nelson mandela passed away . most newspapers in south africa and major international newspaper titles dedicated their front pages to coverage of mandela s death . except for die burger and the sekunjalo owned cape times 18 which instead led with a special edition that wrapped around the regular edition covering mandela s death that was regarded by time magazine as one of the best covers from around the world on the event . 19 20 21 on 6 december 2013 the day after mandela s death and at the same time other publications were covering the event the cape times led with a front page article on the public protector s report highlighting irregularities in the awarding of the sekunjalo marine services consortium tender . the same day the newspaper s editor alide dasnois was dismissed from her post by iqbal surv executive chairman of sekunjalo investments . 20 21 one of the stated reasons by surv for dasnois s dismissal was that mandela s death was not on the front page of the cape times . 22 sekunjalo investments has threatened to sue the paper dasnois and journalist melanie gosling over the tender story but surv has denied that dasnois removal was connected to the article . he instead pointed to the title s declining circulation figures as his primary motivation . 23 compounded loss of sales between 2008 and 2012 amounted to 28 % he said . the cape times is one of the titles in the sekunjalo owned inmsa stable . 24 in response to a perceived attack on press freedom several organizations have issued statements of support for dasnois and of concern over editorial independence at the cape times . these include index on censorship the international federation of journalists the sa centre for pen international the sa national editors forum the freedom of expression institute and the right2know campaign . 25 26 27 28 29 in september 2014 dasnois filed papers in the south african labour court for unfair dismissal and for breech of contract . 30 in may 2016 sekunjalo reached an agreement with dasnois to settle out of court and issued a statement that acknoweldged that dasnois did not show disrespect to mandela s legacy and neither was her conduct in any way motivated by racism . shortly after releasing this statement the sekunjalo owned cape times newspaper ran a story that dasnois s lawyer claims sought to accuse dasnois of being disrespectful to mandela . 31 accusations of pro anc bias edit in january 2015 the company and its director iqbal surv were accused of pro african national congress anc political bias in how they operated independent news and media sa and its subsidiary newspapers such as the cape times . although there had been lingering concerns over press freedom at independent media following skunjalo s acquisition of the company partly due to the 2014 firing of cape times editor alide dasnois and partly due to surv s close relationship with the anc the catalyst for the accusation was group executive editor karima brown and editor of opinion and analysis vukani mde s decision to wear anc colours at an anc rally . 32 the accusations were first made by former independent news columnist max du preez in his open resignation letter as reasons for his refusal to work for the company any longer . 33 karima brown the chief content officer of independent media replied to du preez s resignation letter by rejecting accusations of political bias as their publications still feature a number of articles critical of the anc government claimed that du preez had inaccurately accused schabir shaik and president jacob zuma of pursuing a corrupt relationship and that du preez and those who have supported him were motivated by racism . 34 35 opposition leader helen zille stated that skunjalo s operation of independent media was an example of state capture that threatens both the independence of the media and the development of democracy in south africa . 36 the company was again criticised for its close links with the anc and of allegedly having an anti democratic alliance da bias in a report on al jazeera in march 2016 . 37 the da for its part was accused of trying to silence criticism from the cape times by threatening to cancel the city of cape town s subscription to that publication . in the same report the cape times rejected any accusation