It has principal operations in publishing, Internet, fishing, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, telecommunication, financial services, aquaculture, biotechnology, enterprise development, events management, travel.
[17][18] In 2006, Sekunjalo subsidiary Bioclones (trading as Genius Biotherapeutics) received an investment of US$5.3 million from BioPAD, the South African Department of Science and Technology's research innovation centre.
The ownership of subsidiaries was restructured so as to "better reflect the underlying businesses and investments of the Group going forward and to differentiate from the private holding company.
[21] In August 2023, AEEI's subsidiary Premier Fishing Ltd delisted from the JSE after a six-year stint on Africa's largest stock exchange.
[23] In October 2023, AEEI announced its intention to delist citing "costs and administrative burden associated with a listing" no longer being warranted following the sale of its stake in former subsidiary and sister company AYO Technology Solutions.
[24][25][26] AEEI announced a sharp fall in net assets in December 2023 following the unbundling of AYO Technology Solutions and an alleged cybercrime hit with ZAR 15 million being transferred out of a subsidiary company's bank accounts.
[32] Abdul Malick Salie and Naahied Gamieldien, who both served as AYO's CFO at different times, were publicly censured and fined 250 000 rand for breaching the JSE's listing requirements.
[33][34][29] Khalid Abdulla was censured and fined two million rand for breaching listing requirements and for instructing a fellow director to adjust amounts in AYO's interim results.
[45] The South African Clothing and Textile Workers Union (SACTWU) has sued Sekunjalo Independent Media in the Western Cape High Court for failing to repay a loan of ZAR 150 million plus interest in aid of funding the purchase of the company from Tony O'Reiley.
[47][48][49] Survé has been accused of editorial interference at Independent Media[50][51] and of using transformation to remove credible journalists and editors to replace them with others who write favourably about him and his businesses.
[51][50] In August 2024, the Press Council found that Independent Media newspapers and news website IOL were being used to advance Sekunjalo's corporate interests.
[57][58] At the end of 2023, Independent Media's CEO suddenly resigned after 16 months in the job prompting Survé to once again take up an executive role in the company.
[62] Absa, Investec and FNB all closed their accounts with Sekunjalo subsidiaries after the bad press and “reputational risk” that came with the Mpati report.
The report found that the awarding of the R800 million a year contract was improper and did not comply with the department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries supply-chain management requirements.
[76] The Public Protector found that the head of the department's tender evaluation had been "irrational, biased and improper" in its awarding of the bid to Sekunjalo.
The contract was initially awarded to Sekunjalo only to withdraw it and instead gave Smit Amandla one month to hand over their operation to the South African Navy.
The department then found that the Navy could not properly maintain the fleet of six patrol vessels and issued an emergency tender to Nautic SA and Damen Shipyards.
The same day, the newspaper's editor, Alide Dasnois, was dismissed from her post by Iqbal Survé, executive chairman of Sekunjalo Investments.
[88] In response to a perceived attack on press freedom, several organizations have issued statements of support for Dasnois and of concern over editorial independence at the Cape Times.
[95] In January 2015 the company and its director Iqbal Survé were accused of pro-African National Congress (ANC) political bias in how they operated Independent News and Media SA and its subsidiary newspapers such as the Cape Times.
"[96] The accusations were first made by former Independent News columnist Max du Preez in his open resignation letter as reasons for his refusal to work for the company any longer.
[100] The company was again criticised for its close links with the ANC and of allegedly having an anti-Democratic Alliance (DA) bias in a report on Al-Jazeera in March 2016.
[112] Fight Impunity has been embroiled in the ongoing Qatargate scandal involving allegations of corruption and improper influence of European Union officials and family members.