Zunaid Moti steps down from business empire over fraud charges

South African business tycoon Zunaid Moti, the founder of the Moti Group, has left the company as its new CEO Dondo Mogajane, a former director-general of the National Treasury, steers the company to greater growth.

The Moti Group said in a statement released yesterday that Mogajane, who was appointed CEO in June of last year, and Moti’s son, executive chairman Mikaeel Moti, would lead the company as the group strives to become a major player on the African and international stage.

The Moti Group is a multibillion-rand family-owned private investment group with interests in a variety of industries, including real estate development, automobile financing, aviation, mining, and beneficiation. The group employs over a thousand people across its various operations.

Mogajane joined the Moti Group in June 2022 after conducting an exhaustive investigation into the organization’s operations.

“Given his expertise in compliance, financial management and his abilities as a macro-level thinker, I am pleased that he is comfortable to embrace being at the group’s helm to guide it into a new era,” Moti said in the statement.

The Moti Group reported that Mogajane had already initiated the process of transforming the group’s operations by introducing more formal corporate structures, such as an independent board, enhancing its corporate governance controls, and restructuring the business.

“Together with Mikaeel Moti, Mogajane has further driven its progress in establishing a new lithium mining project in Zimbabwe, and assisted in the roll-out of its African HERO project, which recycles and renovates shipping containers for new lives as primary healthcare clinics and schools for under-served communities,” the statement read.

Over the past 18 years, Zunaid Moti built the Moti Group into a multi-million dollar empire through strategic mergers, high-quality acquisitions, and the identification of untapped opportunities for new business ventures, announced that he would no longer be leading the Moti Group.

“My time steering the Moti Group has come to an end, and I have completely handed over the reins to Dondo Mogajane, a highly reputable and respected financial leader who will be guiding the business forward as I start a new chapter and spend more time on my passion projects,” Moti said.

Part of the reason Moti chose to step down was so that a new team of managers could improve the firm’s reputation. Moti said that his business reputation was called into question.

“Unfortunately, the damage that has been done to my reputation over the years by various criminal allegations has meant that the value I am able to add to the management and growth of the company has become limited,” he said.

“While I have a clear criminal record as I have never been found guilty of any of the ludicrous accusations made against me, as a business leader, I am big enough to say that the assertions have impacted my family, the businesses and, to a large extent, my life,” Moti added.

Moti said that he had big plans for African Chrome Fields, one of the biggest chrome mines in Zimbabwe. One of these plans was to finish building a high-tech aluminothermic factory.

Moti was jailed in Germany because of charges that came from Russia.

Moti alleges that the charges were made up by Moti’s former Russian business partner who now lives in Dubai and was upset with Moti and his father.

Moti alleges that his former partner used proxies to file the charges, so his name didn’t show up anywhere.

It was said that Moti and his father sold these proxies an apartment in Dubai, took cash as a deposit in Russia, and then left Russia without giving the “buyers” the keys to the Dubai apartment or giving the money back.

Because Moti and his father were falsely accused of fraud and theft, the Russian government sent a Diffusion Notice to Interpol about them, which Moti didn’t know about at the time of his arrest.

In the end, both Moti and his father were cleared of any wrongdoing.

The charges against them were dropped, and Interpol said they had done nothing wrong.

Interpol gave them clearance certificates at this time and told us that if anyone ever filed a complaint against Moti in the future, he would be given a chance to respond, since they knew that his arrest was based on a complete misuse of their processes.

Moti said he also wants to put his attention on his own charitable work in Southern Africa.

“Uplifting young entrepreneurs is part of my drive to give them an opportunity to find innovative ways to solve traditional business problems…they will help me in my new projects and create sustainable businesses that can help economies grow to give the people of this continent workable solutions that will benefit them too,” he said.