YeboYethu, the Vodacom group’s black economic empowerment (BEE) scheme is sitting with more than R73-million in its bank accounts in unclaimed dividends belonging to over 12 000 shareholders.
The administrators of the scheme have been unable to pay over the dividends owing to shareholders not updating their contact details on a regular basis.
Established in 2008, YeboYethu was designed with the express intention of providing true grassroots empowerment. YeboYethu issued 14,4-million YeboYethu Ordinary Shares at R25 each and as a result of the public offer, approximately 102 000 qualifying black investors bought a stake in Vodacom South Africa.
At the time of implementation of the Vodacom SA BEE Transaction, valued at R7,5-billion, it was one of the largest empowerment schemes in the telecommunications industry, resulting in YeboYethu owning 3,44% of Vodacom SA.
Through a new BEE deal concluded in June 2018, YeboYethu now holds a 6,23% stake in Vodacom Group worth R13,4-billion.
Zarina Bassa, chairman of YeboYethu, says: “We launched YeboYethu with the intent of empowering the black majority masses of our country that were marginalised from participating in the mainstream of the economy by investing in Vodacom, a successful South African telco.
“The scheme has performed well under tough economic conditions and in some instances providing shareholders with market-beating returns.
“It worries us that we are sitting with millions of rands in unclaimed dividends at a time like this. The Covid-19 pandemic has caused a lot of economic devastation and left many with no income and it remains our view that unclaimed dividends could be used by many to provide relief during these tough financial times.
“Our service provider can only pay over dividends to shareholders once they have your correct details. Therefore, we would like to appeal to members of the public to help us spread the word. If you know someone that is a YeboYethu shareholders and have not received their dividends from 2014, please contact us and help them get their fair share of the dividends.”
To update their details, YeboYethu shareholders need to contact the call centre on 010 285 0090 (standard call rates apply) or 082 241 0001 (toll-free from your Vodacom cellphone) or send an email to support@yeboyethushares.co.za. There are also walk-in centres.