It was a deal celebrated in style at Durban's Hilton Hotel nine months ago - but the doors to Prince Melizwe Dlamini's Seeff franchise in the upmarket Umhlanga Village are about to shut, with creditors poised to bang on them. The Mercury has confirmed that one creditor - the landlord of the Chartwell Drive premises - has already gone to court because the rent of about R30 000 a month has not been paid.
And Seeff has cancelled the licence it granted to Insikayesizwe, the company through which the Zulu prince - who is demanding to be declared a king - bought the franchise from established local estate agent Tessa Douglas for just more than R1 million last July.
The deal was brokered by Ugaraja Pakkiri "Rajen" Pillay, who has also been linked to business ventures with Sifiso Zulu.
While Pillay apparently held no official post with the agency, people who worked there described him as the "caretaker" who looked after the prince's interests and did the hiring and firing.
Seeff CEO Stuart Manning said: "There seemed to be confusion over who was managing the business. The dynamic of Rajen Pillay is still in question. We are not sure where he fitted in. According to our agreement, he was never a shareholder.
"The prince has many advisers. We tried everything in the nine months to assist, but it seems he received misguided advice," he said.
Pillay is also named as a co-debtor with Zulu in a high court application launched in March by Ithala Development Finance Corporation for Zulu's sequestration.
Ithala claims Pillay and Zulu defaulted on a R5m loan granted to purchase an interest in a business in October 2003.
While it obtained judgment against both Zulu and Pillay, a debt of R4.6m remained.
Acting business finance executive Matome Mashao claimed that Ithala could not trace Pillay and Zulu refused to say where he was.
The Mercury has been told that Pillay has been living near Umhlanga since at least the beginning of last year and drives a Jaguar with a personalised number plate bearing his wife's name.
A company search also reveals that, along with Zulu, Pillay is listed as an "active director" of Emtateni Logistics, which has the municipality's parking meter contract.
Pillay was introduced to Douglas, who owned the Seeff franchise for 13 years, by his wife, Jasoda, who had recently joined the agency.
With Douglas keen to sell, he had brokered the deal with his "great friend", the prince.
Pillay initially had nothing to do with the business.
But in December that changed. According to an agent, who would not be named: "He called us all in just before Christmas and said he had been told to cut costs by half.
"He said half of us would lose our jobs and we would get letters by 2.30pm telling us who was staying and who was going.
"By that afternoon, out of 14 agents, only five were left. By that time I would have left anyway. The manager, the secretaries and even the tea lady had not been paid. The rented printer had been taken back, the telephones were often cut off. The writing was on the wall."
Manning confirmed yesterday that unpaid bills was partly the reason why the licence had been cancelled.
"This decision was not taken lightly. For nine months, we had made exhaustive efforts to sort out the issues. My partner, Samuel Seeff, had flown to Durban several times. On at least three occasions, at the 11th hour, the prince would cancel the meeting.
"In the meantime, the brand was being brought into disrepute and we could not stand by any longer and watch this happen."
Manning said that apart from not complying with the law - the company and its individuals were not correctly registered with the Estate Agency Affairs Board - bills were not being paid "for extended periods", including the rent and accounts for newspaper advertisements.
These impacted on other franchisees who also had relationships with the same service providers.
He said Seeff itself had not been paid its monthly franchise fees.
He said the agency's books would now be audited and Seeff "would not walk away" from any liabilities or debt. Because the franchise was in "flagship territory", it would be resold.
Attorney Martin Kleyn, who acts for the landlord, confirmed that summons had been issued because of unpaid rent and that judgment had been applied for.
Attempts to contact Dlamini were unsuccessful. His attorney, Jolyon Letty, is out of town and did not return calls. Telephones at the Umhlanga headquarters of Insikayesizwe went unanswered.
In a response to SMSes sent to Dlamini's cellphone, a "Dr Sithole" said "His Majesty" was not involved in the business any more "as publicly announced in April last year" and any attempt to "bring our monarch's name into disrepute would be strenuously acted against".
When The Mercury called Pillay on his cellphone, a man answered and said he was not available. He did not phone back.
