TONY RIVALLAND, the Chairman of the KZN Trainers Association, has accused the Gold Circle Board of poor business ethics, a failure to uphold corporate governing standards and tactical corporate maneuvering which he believes is hampering progress and prosperity in Gold Circle regions.

Writing in his 2009/10 Chairman’s Report, Rivalland  estimates that Gold Circle will show a loss of R20 million for the most recent financial year-end. That Gold Circle’s remuneration committee recently granted executive salary increases knowing this, gives him  “a bitter taste and a degree of despair”.

Tony Rivalland.

Rivalland feels that Gold Circle has left (trainers, etc) “weak and at the mercy of fate” in what he terms “the darkest time in our history”.

He lists a number of issues he believes are of concern and argues that:

-The dismissal of former Gold Circle CEO Michel Nairac was a hasty decision “engineered” by the company’s Western Cape Chapter.

-Gold Circle’s Chief Operating Officer Graeme Hawkins lacks business acumen.

– Commercial Director Patrick Loker does not have the experience to develop a “turnaround strategy”.

-A joint venture between Gold Circle and an unnamed developer for a potentially income-providing boutique hotel at Summerveld was “hijacked” by one Gold Circle director after it was given a unanimous thumbs-up by the Regional Board.

-The recent 42% stable rental increase wasn’t tabled for trainers’ approval, showing Gold Circle’s “blatant disregard for protocol”.

-The new lease contracts contain unacceptable conditions and anomalies that would set the region’s trainers back a great deal considering the reduction in stakes announced last month.

Hawkins commented: “Tony Rivalland has behaved in a delinquent manner and we’ll be investigating his conduct at Board level.”

Rivalland concluded that he was positive about the possibility of a blueprint for a “new and unified Gold Circle”, already mandated to a special sub-committee comprising members of both the KZN and Western Cape regions.

He said, that the future of Gold Circle lay either with or without a third party investor, alternatively as two separate entities in an amicable and equitable divorce proposal. – from racingweb.co.za.