PRETORIA - The Johannesburg High Court on Monday dismissed the R250 million damages claim brought by Peter Moyo against his former employer Old Mutual.
In his judgment, Judge Gregory Charles Wright found that Moyo – a former Old Mutual CEO – had failed to produce any evidence of wrongdoing on the part of the insurance, investment, and corporate solutions firm.
Old Mutual terminated Moyo’s employment in June 2019.
In the latest court proceedings that lasted two weeks, Moyo argued that the termination of his employment was unlawful.
Initially, Moyo claimed reinstatement and damages to the amount of R230m.
He claimed damages to the amount of R20m on the basis that statements made on behalf of Old Mutual about the termination of his employment “insulted him and violated his dignity”.
Moyo was fired in June 2019 for allegedly pocketing dividend payments of R30.6m linked to an investment firm he co-founded, NMT Capital, in which Old Mutual has a 20 percent stake, which it acquired in 2005 as part of a black economic empowerment deal. Moyo chaired an NMT meeting in 2018 where he declared a R105m ordinary dividend and allegedly paid himself dividends, but Old Mutual’s preference share dividends were not paid.
Moyo and his partners thus shared R84m, while omitting to pay preference share dividends, valued at R65.4m at the time.
This, said Old Mutual, was a violation of the shareholders’ agreement, the preference share subscription agreement and Moyo’s employment contract. Old Mutual’s board also engaged Moyo for months about the matter.
During the hearing, Moyo abandoned his claim for reinstatement but persisted with his damages claims.
The judgment handed down Monday morning said the arguments advanced by Moyo for damages could not lead to a finding in his favour.
The court granted Old Mutual and its non-executive directors (who were cited as defendants) absolution from the instance.
This means that there is no need for Old Mutual to call any witnesses to testify in opposition to Moyo’s claims, which have been dismissed based on his version.
Specifically, the court found that, before the termination of Moyo’s contract, he had ample opportunity to put his side of the story.
The court found that no damages flowed from the suspension of his employment.
On termination, it found that Old Mutual correctly applied clause 24.1.1 of the employment contract, which allowed either Old Mutual or Moyo to terminate the contract on six months’ notice.
The court said it agreed with and was bound by similar findings made by a Full Bench of the High Court in January 2020, which also found Old Mutual had acted lawfully in terminating Moyo’s contract.
Judge Wright found no evidence to support Moyo’s claim for loss of dignity.
The court found instead that in the public spat that followed the termination of his employment, it was Moyo who was “direct, forceful and combative”.
Following Moyo’s initial interim reinstatement application in July 2019, Judge Wright’s ruling adds to many other court judgments that found Old Mutual acted lawfully in terminating Moyo’s contract.
However, judgment in Moyo’s consolidated application to have the Old Mutual non-executive directors declared delinquent and to have them declared in contempt of court remains pending.
IOL