Mantengu is considering further legal action following a censure and fine from the JSE.
Image: Nicola Mawson | IOL
Mantengu Mining, censured and fined by the JSE last week, is considering further legal options, including the possibility of seeking reconsideration before the Financial Services Tribunal or a review by the High Court.
The JSE had censured Mantengu and imposed a suspended R100,000 fine for failing to observe the highest standards of care in the dissemination of information into the marketplace; and for failing to promote investor confidence in standards of disclosure and corporate governance in the conduct of Mantengu's affairs, and in the market as a whole.
The censure follows two voluntary announcements by Mantengu on the JSE’s Stock Exchange News Service (SENS) on May 8 and May 9, 2025, titled “share price manipulation – criminal complaint” and “warning of shorting risk”.
Mantengu, responding on Wednesday to the censure, said its earlier allegations were not without evidence. The JSE said however, that the censure does not deal with these allegations.
Mantengu’s board said their evidence included written communications from two Mantengu shareholders who had been approached by Standard Bank Online Share Trading (purportedly acting on behalf of the JSE) to lend 1.842 million MTU shares to settle an unmatched trade and a draft securities lending agreement, purportedly signed on behalf of the JSE, which confirmed the proposed borrowing of those shares.
The board also held written confirmation from Standard Bank that the shares would be returned – after one shareholder raised concerns that her shares had been moved out of her brokerage account without a signed agreement, i.e. without her permission. The board also held evidence of about 18 months of investigative work.
The JSE said in response that while it was bound by client confidentiality on specific trades, there is nothing unusual and in the normal course of business for the JSE to be advised by a broker that there may be a difficulty in the settling of a share trade, which is usually caused by some administrative obstacle.
When there is a risk of a failed transaction on the JSE, efforts are made to borrow shares from other shareholders, to allow the shares to be traded and to avoid losses to other market participants. Such trades were a daily occurrence across securities listed on the exchange, the JSE said.
Mantengu questioned the JSE’s lack of transparency about the circumstances surrounding the fine and sanction, which had resulted from an internal objection process, in which a reduction was secured from an initially proposed R500,000.
In response, the JSE confirmed that it only publishes the final sanction decision once it has received and considered input from the party being sanctioned through its internal objection process. This approach aims to ensure a balanced and fair outcome by allowing the affected party an opportunity to make representations before the final decision is made public.
"Mantengu will continue to cooperate with regulators and to take professional advice to ensure compliance with its obligations under the Listings Requirements,” said CEO Magen Naidoo.
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