Claims of fraud have surfaced to haunt truth
commission official Hlengiwe Mkhize. Stefaans
BrUmmer reports
TRUTH commissioner Hlengiwe Mkhize, head of
the truth body’s reparations committee, is at
the centre of a storm over the “collapse” of a
non-governmental organisation racked by
allegations of maladministration.
In February remaining staffers of the National
Children and Violence Trust (NCVT), founded by
Mkhize, were dismissed — after they had
passed a vote of no-confidence in Mkhize and
her co-trustees. Several former employees have
made serious allegations, but ask to remain
anonymous for now.
The Mail & Guardian is in possession of
documents in which foreign donors were alerted
as early as December about “concerns” over the
way the organisation was run, and in which,
inter alia, a “trustee” states that his
signature was faked in the deed of trust.
Mkhize acknowledged this week that it was not
the “trustee’s” own signature — a fact
which will probably invalidate the
registration of the trust.
At the centre of the dispute are questions
over the extent to which Mkhize, co-chair of
the board of trustees, was still directly
involved in running the organisation during
the six months up to February during which
tensions came to a head.
Mkhize, who became director of mental health
and substance abuse in the Department of
National Health last August, maintains she
removed herself from the day-to-day activities
of the NCVT when she started in that position,
and asked that questions be put to her co-
chair, Dr Cecil Manitshana. Said Mkhize: “It
is not something that I feel responsible for.
Since last July I have not been in a position
to make any firm decisions.”
Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Alex Boraine, co-
chairs of the commission,said they did not
have time this week to attend to the issue as
they had been in public hearings. “We will
address it as soon as possible.”
However, a former employee claimed that Mkhize
was still in charge “by remote control” from
her Department of National Health office in
Pretoria.
The M&G also has information that it was
Mkhize herself who in December interviewed
Patronella Molefe for the post of director,
responsible for the day-to-day administration
of the NCVT from its national office in
Johannesburg. The M&G is also in possession of
minutes of a meeting in January where Mkhize
was present, and references in other documents
to at least a degree of involvement since
August last year.
Until Molefe started as director in January
this year, Mkhize herself held the post of
director — on paper at least. But Mkhize
maintains that since August another national
office employee, Paul Ntsooa, had “acted” as
director.
Molefe started as director on January 3, a
post she held until February 12, when she was
dismissed together with other employees. From
the documentation in possession of the M&G it
appears she thought she did not have full
access to information relating to the
administration of the organisation.
Minutes of a meeting held on January 7 show
Molefe was already concerned about her own
position. According to the minutes, Mkhize and
one other trustee were present at the meeting.
Neither co-chair Manitshana nor Ntsooa —
who by then had been dismissed — were
present.
Manitshana, contacted late during the M&G
investigation, said he could not be expected
to answer questions at short notice.
The organisation, known previously as the
Children and Violence in South Africa Project,
was founded in the early 1990s by Mkhize, a
clinical psychologist, who was then a member
of Wits University’s Psychology Department.
The project, aiming to help children exposed
to violence, was administered by the
university.
There is some uncertainty about the exact time
it was started — documentation prepared for
funders say 1990, although Wits’ deputy
registrar (research) Margie Cairns said in
writing this week that “as far as I am aware,
the … project was initiated in 1991 and
established in 1992″.
In intervening years, up to nine regional
“networks” were set up in different parts of
the country to counsel children and train
communities in dealing with the effects of
violence on children, and donor funds became
available from Radda Barnen (Swedish Save the
Children) and other local and foreign donors.
In 1994 the organisation started a process of
dissociating itself from Wits, and on October
16 last year it was finally registered with
the Master of the Supreme Court in Pretoria as
an independent trust, with seven trustees,
including Mkhize and Manitshana. On October 31
the last funds still administered by Wits were
transferred to the trust.
In April 1994 already, Mkhize had started a
relationship with the United States-based
funding agency, the Christian Children’s Fund
(CCF). In an agreement reached on April 26
1994, the CCF agreed to give NCVT
$62 700 for the remainder of the year — $60
000 in cash and the rest in the form of a
notebook computer. The agreed budget earmarked
R2 500 a month for each of three co-ordinators
(who head regional networks), among other
expenses.
But soon dissatisfaction from the “networks”
set in, with claims that expenses for items
such as travel or catering at workshops were
not being met. Co-ordinators complained they
were not being paid their expected
remuneration.
On December 26 last year, a member of the
regional network in Kagiso wrote to a Luanda-
based representative of a funding agency which
appears to be the CCF, complaining “about how
things are handled” at the trust and “poor or
lack of communication” between the trust and
the network.
A follow-up letter from the Kagiso co-
ordinator to the same funder’s representative
in February stated that “the situation has
worsened” and alleged “corruption and
embezzlement of funds”.
Meanwhile, on January 31 this year, Mark
Shomer, the CCF’s director of contracts and
grants, wrote to director Molefe in reply to a
query from her: “I was surprised by your
comment that you did not know whether the $30
000 for the second term [the second
installment of the CCF’s $60 000 grant] was
received and how it was spent. Our records
show that on September 12 1995, CCF wired $30
000 … Letters from Hlengiwe Mkhize
(September 20 1995) and Dr Manitshana
(September 21 1995) thanked us for the
transfer.
“I hope you are able to confirm that these
funds were properly received. It was my
impression that this was NCVT’s main source of
funding for the past few months.”
Matters came to a head late in January when
delegates from the networks and national
office staff met in Johannesburg for the
NCVT’s annual “strategic planning meeting”.
Mkhize and other trustees did not attend.
The minutes of the session note several
demands for greater transparency, among other
things in “the recruitment of staff, their
conditions of service, salaries and contracts”
— and state that “the feeling of the
delegation was that the current board of
trustees was illegal — meaning that its
appointment was against decisions taken in a
strategic planning meeting held in January
1995 [which held that the networks should be
represented on the board].”
On February 12, the national office staff and
co-ordinators were dismissed by Manitshana.
Several have lodged complaints with the
Department of Labour, alleging the Basic
Conditions of Employment Act has been
contravened in that they were not paid or were
underpaid.
Specific allegations include:
l That the Rev Michel Barrette’s signature was
faked in the deed of trust when the trust was
registered last October. Barrette was overseas
at the time. He lodged a complaint with the
Master of the Supreme Court earlier this
month, pointing out that although he had
expressed a willingness to serve as trustee
before he left the country, he first wanted to
see the final text of the deed before
deciding, and that the signature was not his.
Mkhize said this week: “When the trust was
formalised, we showed the lawyer and auditor
the correspondence [which indicated Barrette’s
willingness to serve] and either a lawyer or
auditor said he could sign for him.”
This is illegal, and probably invalidates the
registration as the deed stipulates a minimum
of seven trustees — and Barrette was the
seventh. Barrette complained to the trustees
this year, but received the written reply that
“it is shocking for the trustees that you have
chosen to question their credibility and you
are even exploring ways of having the trust
investigated”.
l An employee states that she saw cheque
counterfoils relating to three separate
occasions during the second half of last year
when Mkhize had written herself cheques
ranging between about R3 000 and R5 000 for
services rendered to the trust. Mkhize denied
she had issued any such cheques, or that she
had been remunerated by the trust at all since
it separated from Wits.
l The notebook computer donated by CCF as a
grant in kind to the NCVT has been in the
personal possession of Mkhize ever since it
was donated. Mkhize said the donors knew she
had it, and it was “agreed” she would continue
using it. A representative of CCF in the US
said this week: “She knows it is for the use
of the trust.”
l Ntsooa, the “acting director” — who was
dismissed by the NCVT in December — wrote
to Mkhize on January 26 pleading poverty. The
M&G has what appears to be a copy of this
letter, in which he says he includes a cheque
issued by the National Peace Accord Trust
(NPAT) to the NCVT. He states that the cheque
is due to the NCVT on the basis of a contract
he signed with the NPAT during 1995 “for
Mpule’s input in Katorus”.
Former employees claim the cheque had been
claimed from MPAT in January, even though the
services of “Mpule” had been terminated at
least the month before. In his letter to
Mkhize, Ntsooa asks “whether it is possible
for you to negotiate that I be given another
cheque to the same value by NCVT in exchange
from the one from NPAT, because if we were to
ask [illegible name] to issue another cheque
in my name it might complicate matters even
worse”.
Mkhize said this week that in spite of her
knowledge of the apparent irregularity, “I
couldn’t prosecute him … because I felt as a
person he should not be buried.”
The Department of Health confirmed this week
that Ntsooa had served as a consultant to its
Directorate of Mental Health and Substance
Abuse, of which Mkhize is formally still head,
for three weeks in February.
l Financial statements for the trust were not
submitted to CCF in January, as specified in
the funding agreement with CCF. The CCF
representative said they were “still expecting
it”, but that it had not become a matter of
too great concern yet.
Mkhize said this week she believed she was
unfairly targeted by former employees, whose
bitterness stemmed from expectations for
disbursements from limited funds: “People
working at a low level thought there was
money, and were making more and more
unrealistic demands.”
The CCF representative said he was aware “that
there are different versions of the story”.