FirstRand Limited - Media Release

FirstRand Limited - Media Release                                               
FirstRand Limited                                                               
(Incorporated in the Republic of South Africa)                                  
Registration number: 1966/010753/06                                             
Share Code: FSR          ISIN: ZAE000014973                                     
("FirstRand" or the "Company")                                                  
Media Release                                                                   
FirstRand CEO, Laurie Dippenaar, today announced that the Directors of FirstRand
had agreed to extend Mr Mac Maharaj"s leave of absence for a further two months.
Mr Maharaj has been on three months leave of absence following allegations of   
impropriety made against him in the Sunday Times on 16 February 2003.           
FirstRand, with the agreement of Mr Maharaj, appointed Hofmeyr Herbstein &      
Gihwala Inc to conduct an independent enquiry into the allegations and to assess
the evidence on which they were based. Dippenaar said at the time of the        
announcement of the appointment "We are seeking to clarify the uncertainty      
regarding the allegations in an objective and transparent manner, while abiding 
by the principles of due process and sound corporate governance."               
Dippenaar said that the FirstRand Limited Board had considered a progress report
and had requested that auditors, Deloitte & Touche, as part of the necessary    
governance process, review the approach followed by FirstRand and attorneys     
Hofmeyr Herbstein & Gihwala Inc in the enquiry, so that the final report would  
be sufficiently robust.  He said that additional time was also needed to        
document verbal information and to collate that which had been obtained to date.
Unfortunately the Sunday Times, to date, has not provided any of the information
or documentation on which they based their allegations.                         
Dippenaar said it was the intention of the FirstRand Board that a final decision
would be taken during July 2003.  He said, "finality is necessitated by good    
corporate governance and the statutory regulations applying to companies and    
banks."                                                                         
The Registrar of Banks and the Financial Services Board are being kept informed 
of the enquiry"s progress and have agreed with the extension of the leave of    
absence for two months.                                                         
Any decision taken will apply to the Boards of FirstRand Limited, FirstRand Bank
Holdings Limited, Discovery Holdings Limited and any other internal Boards on   
which Mr Maharaj serves.                                                        
Sponsor                                                                         
Rand Merchant Bank                                                              
A division of FirstRand Bank Limited                                            
Corporate Finance                                                               
Issued on behalf of:          FirstRand Limited                                 
                              Laurie Dippenaar, CEO                             
Contact:                 Beth van Heerden    Head: Communication                
Telephone:               012 673 7325        Mobile:   082 809 2344             
E-mail:                  bvheerden@momentum.co.za                               
Date: 28/05/2003 10:47:32 AM Supplied by www.sharenet.co.za                     
Produced by the JSE SENS Department