Entrepreneur Mark Shuttleworth has lost out on his bid to recoup R250 million he had to deposit with the Reserve Bank when he moved assets out of SA several years ago, according to reports by SAPA.
The wire service says the North Gauteng High Court yesterday dismissed his application to have a section of the Currency and Exchange Act and all of the Exchange Control Regulations struck down.
Shuttleworth has argued that exchange controls prejudice small businesses and individuals, preventing South African citizens and residents from managing their finances in a global economy, without providing the state with meaningful control over the value of the rand.
The billionaire founded Thawte and sold it to VeriSign for $575 million in 1999, before founding venture fund HBD and setting up the Shuttleworth Foundation, which funds change in society. In April 2002, he flew into space, as a cosmonaut member of the crew of the Russian Soyuz mission TM34, to the International Space Station, and subsequently developed Ubuntu.
SAPA says judge Francis Legodi dismissed Shuttleworth's application, which sought to set aside the R250 million levy he had to pay to the Reserve Bank. Shuttleworth's bid to have the bank's policy of working only through bank dealers, and not the public, declared invalid was also dismissed, say the reports.
The wire service notes, however, the judge ruled that a section of the Act, giving the president the power to amend or suspend any part of the Currency and Exchanges Act, and the power to amend or suspend any other Act of Parliament, was unconstitutional.
SAPA says the judge said this was extraordinarily wide power and gave government 12 months to amend certain sections of the regulations.
Shuttleworth has yet to issue a statement on the decision.
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