JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Investment company Allan Gray said on Friday its 16 percent stake in Net1 allowed it to call a shareholders’ meeting over the company’s handling of the South African welfare contract, local media reported.

“Sixteen percent allows us to call a shareholders’ meeting,” Allan Gray Chief Operating Officer Rob Dower told Talk Radio 702.

Chief investment officer Andrew Lapping was quoted in the Business Day newspaper as saying Allan Gray could push for the removal of the Net1 board.

South Africa’s Constitutional Court was set to rule on Friday in a case concerning the unlawful tender of a contract to Net1 unit Cash Paymaster Services (CPS) to manage welfare benefits to 17 million people.

(Reporting by Ed Stoddard; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)

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