FRAUD charges have been laid
against Heyneke Tours after
clients’ holidays, including
honeymoons and anniversary trips,
were ruined. According to clients
canvassed by TNW, charges have
been laid at Brixton, Honeydew
and Roodepoort police stations.
TNW also understands that Izak
and Henda Heyneke were arrested
on December 18, and then
released on bail.
One client, who drove to the
company’s business address, says
a ‘for sale’ sign was erected at
the house. Other affected clients
told TNW that when confronting
the operator, they were informed
that the company was “bankrupt”.
The operator took bookings from
numerous clients without paying
the money over to suppliers so
that clients were forced to either
rebook their holidays, paying once
again, or cancel their trips.
TNW understands that at
least 14 clients have
been affected and, based
on clients contacted by this
publication, over R1,2m has
been lost to these clients.
The majority of these
clients became aware that
their bookings were not
paid and confirmed when
they did not receive proper
booking confirmations,
while some were informed
by airlines that their tickets
had been cancelled when
they tried to check in for
flights.
The explanation given
by Izak in a statement
is that a “series of
unfortunate incidents”
led to the operator having
“negative cash flow” and
being unable to meet
its commitments to the
clients who had booked in
December. He added that
the company had appointed
a team of consultants
to help turn around the
business and reimburse
clients owed money or
enable them to complete
their trips. This includes the
development of a payment
that it will convey to all
creditors before the end of
January 2018.
While Heyneke Tours was
ticketing through Serendipty
Worldwide Group until
March or April last year,
business development
manager, Donovan
Moodley, said the company
was no longer ticketing
through SWG.
Donovan emphasised that
Heyneke had been in the
industry for a long time,
had passed the group’s
checks and had sound
business practices up until
last year.
Heyneke Tours is
not a registered Asata
member.
