Peter Mokaba has denied the accusations levelled against him and has blamed the director of the NTF for the financial crisis, writes Mduduzi ka Harvey
AS the National Tourism Forum (NTF) chaired by former ANC youth leader Peter Mokaba heads deeper into financial crisis, divisions have been drawn in the upper echelons, with two factions blaming each other for its expected demise.
On one hand, some NTF members backing suspended executive director Albert Maphala allege the Forum was hijacked by money-spinning hotel chains like Sun International to secure gambling rights, while financing Mokaba with the hope that he would land the post of tourism minister.
Mokaba, on the other hand, denies these claims. Instead he blames Maphala for a lack of financial administration skills which eventually led to auditors being called in to look into the Forum’s books. The auditors discovered that R100 000 was missing.
Financial statements show that the NTF has been riddled with “irregular payments” to “unknown payees” of over R1-million over the past two years.
According to sources in the NTF, Sun International, Southern Sun and Gold Reef City joined the Forum to “protect their interests”. They claim the intention was to back Mokaba with financial support which could eventually land him the tourism portfolio. In turn, they expected him to secure casino licenses for them.
Hotel magnate Sol Kerzner admitted this week that he had given money to the Forum, but said the cash had not been given to any individual in particular. But some sources view this differently: “Their line of thinking was, the issuing of licenses was based on political ideology. If you were ANC you could influence these decisions and that’s why they stood behind Mokaba,” said an insider.
They claim in return Mokaba had promised to talk to the ANC national executive to secure support for the licenses. Further it is claimed he said he would also influence the Youth League to throw its weight behind the bid.
NTF staffers claim that Mokaba gave instructions that no one besides himself had the mandate to negotiate or inquire about casino licenses at any level. They also claim that part of Sun International’s contribution for their bid was to back Mokaba with R150 000 before the elections. The money was used for Mokaba’s NTF presentation at a tourism convention at Gallagher Estates in Midrand in February last year.
Sun International was not the only group, according to sources, pouring money or services into the NTF. Southern Sun also offered offices at Garden Court Hotel in the centre of Johannesburg which were used free of charge.
But this relationship turned sour when Mokaba failed to take the tourism post: “In August last year Sun International withdrew their donations to the NTF. They gave no reason, but obviously Mokaba had failed to deliver the goods,” a source said.
Mokaba this week denied these allegations. He said he was not responsible for the granting of casino licences: “The issue of licences is handled by the Justice Department of which I am not part.” He added: “Money was not given directly to me for the conference. Members of the executive got together to arrange the conference. All I did was to confirm and discuss the whole issue of the conference”.
On why donors withdrew their financial support after August, he said: “It is not true that they withdrew because I could not deliver. They said they would donate for a specific period and when it lapsed they stopped.” Moreover, donors thought the NTF staff too big.
Money struggles revolving around Mokaba ensued, with NTF members asking him to resign from his NTF position as he was a member of parliament: “He told us he was not going to resign as he would lose his salary of R16 500 per month and a R12 000 monthly allowance for his car.
“He was approached because the ANC’s code of conduct does not allow him to get a salary in addition to his MP’s salary. He swept this under the carpet,” claims an insider.
Mokaba said the insider had it wrong: “The Code of Conduct deals with ministers’ salaries,” he said. “They have to disclose if they have other employment or if they have shares. I do not fall in this category.”
The Forum has been in financial trouble since its inception; it did not have enough money to pay its staff in the first three months. A decision was taken by the NTF executive committee early on to hold a conference in February last year aimed at raising funds.
But, NTF members claim much to committee members’ surprise, the power to organise and raise funds was shifted unilaterally by Mokaba away from the executive and given to Ian Pierce, an auditor, and Gillian Gamsy, who owns a promotions company.
Tensions worsened after the conference, which attracted many local and international guests. Sources say the conference was expected to raise over R1,5-million for the NTF, but afterwards they were told it only raised R500000. They claim when they asked for the money to be deposited into NTF coffers Mokaba referred them to Pierce; when they approached Pierce he referred them to Gamsy. Gamsy sent them back to Mokaba.
NTF members were left in the cold on whether an account had been opened or not. It was only when their phones were to be shut down a month after the conference that they approached Mokaba and in the next few days he approached Pierce and Gamsy who issued a cheque of R40 000 for staff salaries and R7 000 for the telephone.
“We then realised that an account had been opened in NTF’s name at Nedbank in Sandton,” a source said.
But members were concerned how an account could be opened without the executive director, Albert Maphala as a signatory, as the constitution stipulates.
They claim Mokaba said that “Mandela also allowed organisations to open accounts in the name of the ANC”.
But Mokaba differs: “I involved Pierce because he had expertise in the field. Obviously Maphala has no experience in finance and I wanted to see where all the mispending was coming from, because in terms of management we could not run the NTF.”
Friction mounted as the NTF executive demanded that Gamsy produce bank statements and closing accounts. Eventually they appointed auditors to look into the NTF’s books, but they say Mokaba intervened and the books were sent to auditors recommended by Mokaba.
The findings resulted in the suspensions of Maphala, marketing director Clive Strugnell and international affairs director John Rothchild in connection with R100 000 which was allegedly paid to J Lawrence promotions company. J Lawrence is Strugnell’s wife.
Sources claim Strugnell was threatened and forced by Mokaba’s bodyguards to write an affidavit implicating Maphala, as part of Mokaba’s plan to have direct control of NTF finances.
Mokaba said the claim is untrue. “Strugnell implicated Maphala on his own accord,” he said. “He even wrote an affidavit saying he was going to pay back the missing money.
“How could I take control of finances? Maphala was in full control, but it was after we found that there was R100 000 missing and Maphala was implicated that we felt he had to be suspended.”
Financial statements in the possession of the Weekly Mail & Guardian show:
* Over the past 10 months a Hong Kong donor pledged R3- million to NTF, yet only R2,25-million was deposited. * The NTF’s overdraft of R90 000 is due, according to the exeuctive committee, to misappropriation of funds. * Irregularity on pay-as-you-earn tax. The forum owes the Receiver of Revenue R58 970 in PAYE for November. According to sources, the money was deducted but never paid. * In any case, the executive committee was worried that staff members had not paid tax and most did not have tax numbers, a condition stipulated by their Hong Kong donor. Their failure to comply means they owe the government about R200 000.
Question marks also surround Mokaba’s finances. He received a salary of about R250 000 in one year, paying himself R47 000 in November 1993 and more than R50 000 in May last year.
On the huge salaries he was allegedly paid, Mokaba said: “The money I received was back pay for months where I had either not received my salary or when I was underpaid.”