If you hold MTN Zakhele Futhi shares, the number to know is 083 900 6863 — and it is free to call from an MTN cellphone, which is worth knowing before you use airtime on anything else.

MTN Zakhele Futhi Shareholder Services

The website is not the address you would guess

The shareholder site is at mtnzakhelefuthi.nedsecure.co.za. The obvious mtnzakhelefuthi.co.za does not resolve at all. Registrations and trading are handled on a separate site, i-ex.co.za. If a link you were sent uses neither of those domains, do not enter your details on it.

Who actually administers the scheme

Complaints

Phone 083 900 6863 in office hours, or email [email protected]. The scheme asks you to always include your name and contact details — an email without them cannot be matched to a shareholding and will not be actioned.

Check the scheme status before you assume anything

MTN Zakhele Futhi was a ring-fenced empowerment vehicle through which qualifying members of the Black Public held MTN Group shares indirectly. It was set up with a fixed life, and schemes of this kind reach an end date at which they unwind and distribute to shareholders. Do not rely on remembered figures or on a WhatsApp forward for where it currently stands — the Investor Relations section of the shareholder site is the place that says, and it is the only place that says it authoritatively.

Have this ready when you make contact

Nobody should be charging you to claim your own shares

Empowerment schemes attract this fraud every time a distribution is announced. The pattern is a call or message offering to release, unlock or fast-track your payout for a fee, or asking you to confirm your identity number, banking details or a one-time password. There is no fee to receive what you are owed, and nobody legitimate will phone you asking for an OTP. Phone 083 900 6863 yourself and confirm.

If it is not resolved

Keep the reference. A complaint about a financial services provider — and Singular Systems is one, FSP 44330 — can be taken to the FSCA, and a financial services complaint to the National Financial Ombud Scheme. Both are free to you.