IDC secrecy denies widow access to shares that may change her life

'Law prohibits the release of information'

- By Tshwarelo eseng Mogakane

A Mpumalanga woman has been denied access to her late husband's 20-year shareholding in a local concrete maker.

The widow, Patricia Chiloane-Mkhizana, said the benefits from these shares could change her life, so she has mounted a lonely battle for truth and transparency against the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), among others.

She said the corporation refused to release documents confirming her late husband's participation in a black economic empowerment (BEE) deal it funded in 2003.

The Acornhoek resident is trying to wind up the estate of the late businessman Msizwethu Musa Mkhizana, but cannot proceed without Bosun Holdings confirming details.

"I don’t know how much of the company he owns, what it is worth, or whether his shares are still active. Without this information, I cannot close the estate," Chiloane-Mkhizana told Sunday World.

Her efforts to obtain the information from the IDC, including a formal application in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act, have hit a wall.

The corporation told her that Bosun had instructed it not to disclose the information relating to the transaction to her.