Since October 1998, Sanlam's Demutualisation Trust (Trust) was for receiving and keeping safe all unclaimed free shares allocated to beneficiaries during Sanlam's demutualisation process.

The Trust also controlled the release of shares to the rightful owners and the development and implementation of cost-justifiable means of locating beneficiaries.

In addition, the Trust was tasked with the receiving and safekeeping of dividends as part of the trust fund, and the application of these funds to cover administrative costs, as specified in the terms and conditions of the Trust Act.
The Trust came into being on 22 October 1998 and acknowledged and processed all valid claims for shares until 22 October 2008 – the period to claim these shares lapsed at midnight on this date.

How the Trust worked

The Trust was controlled by a board of five independent trustees, appointed by the Master of the High Court. They are Judge Leonora van den Heever (chair), Mr JP Bester, Mr Pume Canca, Prof Willie Esterhuyse and Prof Abram Nkabinde.

The Trust employees were divided into the following five teams:

• office of the Administrative Trustee, Dr Jacob Maritz, responsible for matters concerning the board of trustees, finances, systems and procedural security regarding the release of shares, all matters concerning the shares register, policy and strategic issues;

• an investigative team responsible for the search of various sources for contact information, such as telephone numbers and addresses;

• correspondence;

• telephone locators and a call centre; and

• public awareness campaigns and kiosks in shopping centres.