REFUND WRANGLE: Hospitality agency enters business rescue amid R48m ticket claim scandal

Hospitality agency Leisure Connexion has entered voluntary business rescue after undelivered 2025 and 2026 sporting event tickets left the company facing refund demands and mounting financial pressure.The move follows a dispute over tickets and hospitality products paid for, but not delivered and a civil claim of about R48-million against third-party supplier Adriaan Pieterse. According to an affidavit submitted in connection with the business rescue proceedings, Adelbert Retief, the director of Leisure Connexion, resolved to place the company in business rescue because of its financial position. “The company is financially distressed and currently unable to pay its debts as they have become due and payable, and hence it appears reasonably likely that without commencement of voluntary business rescue proceedings the company will become commercially insolvent within the ensuing six months,” stated the affidavit, which was submitted on 8 October. Springbok Pieter-Steph du Toit takes a lineout throw-in during the third Test of the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry tour at FNB Stadium on 5 September. (Photo: Floris van Schouwenburg / Gallo Images) Documents seen by Daily Maverick indicate that the business-rescue process began on 9 October. Christelle and Charles Keevy of Absolute Business Rescue have been appointed as Leisure Connexion’s business rescue practitioners.“The aim of business rescue is to ensure that creditors of the company receive a better return (on debts) than what they would receive if the company is liquidated,” said Christelle Keevy via email correspondence.“The BRPs (Business Rescue Practitioners) are currently investigating the affairs of the company, which include working through financial information and bank statements as well as voluminous amounts of reconciliations between parties (tickets sold and tickets not received, etc).”According to Christelle Keevy, Leisure Connexion creditors must submit their claims with supporting documents to the practitioners by 27 November, which will then be verified and registered.“Once the process is finalised, we will be in a better position to determine the total creditors’ claims, ie, amount and number,” she said.Undelivered ticketsAccording to the affidavit signed by Retief, the financial strain stems from tickets and hospitality products that Leisure Connexion claimed it paid for, but did not receive from its third-party supplier.One of the events affected was the sold-out Springboks clash against the All Blacks in Cape Town on 29 August, when hundreds of rugby tickets thought to be bought and sold months in advance never materialised.This left travel agencies and hospitality providers, as well as supporters, scrambling for answers. Leisure Connexion and Retief were confirmed as one of the suppliers. Retief in turn said he relied on a third-party supplier, Pieterse, who allegedly failed to deliver. In a letter to affected clients sent on 28 September, Leisure Connexion stated they “had previously supplied tickets successfully” through Pieterse and had been attempting for more than a month to recover funds paid to him.A letter of demand was issued to Pieterse on 18 September by attorney Colin Isherwood of Jurgens Bekker Attorneys on behalf of Leisure Connexion and Retief, seeking roughly R48.47-million in refunds and damages for tickets not delivered, as well as future bookings. According to the letter of demand, Leisure Connexion paid for tickets and hospitality products for multiple events, including three Springbok Tests separate from the Greatest Rivalry, the Masters Golf tournament at Augusta National, the Fifa World Cup, the Nations Cup, Uefa Champions League and Wimbledon. The R48.47m claim against third-party supplier Adriaan Pieterse includes more than R17m exclusively mentioned for Wimbledon. This is according to the letter of demand sent by Jurgens Bekker Attorneys on behalf of Leisure Connexion and its director Adelbert Retief. (Photo: EPA / Tolga Akmen) The letter further claimed that Leisure Connexion received about R3.7-million worth of tickets from Pieterse, hence the R48.47-million demand. The business rescue affidavit stated that clients who paid Leisure Connexion for tickets are now demanding refunds from the company, to which the affidavit stated that the company is “financially distressed and cannot refund clients immediately”.Isherwood, whose firm no longer represents Leisure Connexion and now acts only for Retief in his personal capacity, said he could not comment further on the business rescue process.He said, however, that entering business rescue provides Leisure Connexion the “best chance” of managing its creditors while pursuing the money paid to Pieterse.Under South African law, once an organisation enters business rescue, the practitioner/s must convene a first creditors’ meeting within 10 business days of appointment and publish a rescue plan within 25 business days, unless creditors agree to more time. This is according to CMS Law Firm.A document in Daily Maverick’s possession indicates that a first meeting of Leisure Connexion’s creditors was scheduled for 26 October, which Christelle Keevy confirmed to Daily Maverick did occur.From there, the provisional plan is set to be published at the end of February 2027, said Christelle Keevy. “[The provisional plan] aims to recover funds through various statutory processes in order to refund creditors of the company,” she said.According to Pieterse’s lawyer Andrew Joyce, no formal notification confirming that Leisure Connexion had entered business rescue has been received.Competing claimsReportedly, a criminal complaint has been registered against Pieterse, which is included in the R48.47-million civil claim (the civil claim is still being finalised, according to Isherwood).According to a News24 report, the complaint, filed by Leisure Connexion and Retief, related to an alleged loss of about R22-million and concerns a narrower set of alleged unpaid tickets. The civil demand included additional amounts for damages and other costs.“The R22-million relates to monies paid to Pieterse for which we believe Pieterse defrauded Retief and SA Leisure, while the R48-million includes the R22-million as well as the damages claim against Pieterse,” confirmed Isherwood.In an email to Daily Maverick, Joyce said neither he nor Pieterse was aware of any criminal charges pending against his client.Joyce said his office was preparing to institute civil proceedings against Retief on behalf of Pieterse. “My client firmly disputes the allegations made by Mr Retief, as already communicated in my client’s previous correspondence,” said Joyce. “As we are currently finalising preparations to institute civil proceedings against Mr Retief, my client does not intend to comment further at this stage.” Pieterse previously told Daily Maverick that he disputed that he was Leisure Connexion’s supplier, stating that he dealt only with Retief. “I do not agree with that characterisation of the relationship,” Pieterse told Daily Maverick in an emailed response. “My dealings and arrangements were with Mr Adelbert Retief. At his request, I sourced tickets for various sporting events during 2025 and 2026, for which payment was made prior to supply.” Isherwood confirmed that a letter of demand was in turn received by Pieterse. “We have responded thereto, denying any allegation that monies are owed by Retief or any entity belonging to Retief [or] to Pieterse,” said Isherwood.The 2026 Fifa World Cup was included in the letter of demand as one of the sporting events, among several others, for which tickets were allegedly paid for but not delivered. (Photo: Harry How / Getty Images) Pieterse also claimed the R48.47-million claim amount was overstated. According to him, he had paid some refunds for tickets he was unable to supply, while also claiming he is owed money by Retief.Following Daily Maverick’s initial reporting on the claim, Retief sent a statement to the publication contesting Pieterse’s account of their relationship and that Leisure Connexion had paid him in full for the tickets purchased.“We have also done a full reconciliation of payments made to Pieterse and I am satisfied that Pieterse was paid in full for all tickets purchased by SA Leisure from him,” said Retief.“Any allegation that Pieterse did not deal with SA Leisure is a fabrication as there are payments documenting the relationship between SA Leisure and Pieterse.” Isherwood invited Daily Maverick to the offices of Jurgens Bekker Attorneys to inspect the reconciliation and supporting documents. Thus, the documents have not yet been provided to the publication for review.The competing accounts shroud the matter in ambiguity and leave key questions unanswered, including the amounts owed to affected clients and whether Leisure Connexion’s business rescue process will enable it to repay them and ultimately stay afloat. DM