Confidential papers point to a top-level plot to oust Transnet executive Sipho Nyawo, reports Andy Duffy
SACKED Transnet executive Sipho Nyawo was the victim of a “witch-hunt” by white management fearful of government plans to transform the parastatal, acting Portnet chief executive Ivor Funnell says.
In his submission to an inquiry which ended this month in Nyawo’s dismissal, Funnell also says dubious behaviour is rife among top Portnet management – they spent nearly R700 000 on a Zimbabwe golf outing for managers and wives, hiring a Boeing 727-100 for the trip.
Confidential papers leaked to the Mail & Guardian also allege a clique of managers, led by former managing director Anton Moolman, helped engineer Nyawo’s downfall.
The documents – drawn up by Portnet’s communications department – suggest Moolman had opposed Nyawo’s promotion from the start, and that his confidants had begun building a case against Nyawo at least a year before he was appointed chief executive of Portnet.
Nyawo was sacked after an investigation by retired judge John Trengove found him guilty of 65 charges of abusing his credit card – cash involving R50 000 – between February 1994 and December 1995. The allegations were among 228 charges drawn up by Moolman’s team.
Funnell told Trengove’s inquiry that Portnet had breached its own regulations and normal South African labour laws in its action against Nyawo.
“Apparently, management’s actions were in response to the minister of public enterprises [Stella Sigcau’s] proposed changes in the Portnet management structure,” Funnell says. “The manner in which this total case was handled suggests a witch-hunt and bad faith.”
Funnell says management had different rules for Nyawo and for other managers. Portnet had given him no notice of the charges and had failed to follow its own disciplinary code in terms of warnings in the two years he had used the credit card. Nyawo was only told about the charges in March 1996 – the same time the 228 charges were leaked to the press.
Funnell says no instructions were given to Nyawo on credit card use, and that the card was also used by many of Nyawo’s sub- managers because management had refused his middle management further credit cards.
“As one of Portnet’s first African managers Nyawo was required to do extensive travelling and outreach with South Africans to explore empowerment opportunities,” Funnell says. Funnell says he had uncovered several cases which “confirmed” Portnet management, led by former chief executive Neil Oosthuizen, had “targeted and selectively prosecuted” Nyawo.
Senior port management had spent R663 972 on the Zimbabwe golf outing, including R360 000 for hiring the plane and R22 133 for golf shirts and hats.
Oosthuizen had castigated, but taken no further action against a senior manager who wrongly awarded a R2,6-million contract late last year. In another case a senior manager authorised a R600 000 interest-free loan to third parties to allow them to buy shares in a company, which was then given untendered contracts. Portnet’s procurement practice is currently being investigated by Transnet’s internal audit team.
Funnell drew part of his testimony from a 44-point “synopsis” drawn up by Portnet communications head Mpho Maine-Oliphant in August.
Transnet and Sigcau’s office have said the allegations were unproven at the time of Nyawo’s appointment to the Transnet board in July this year.
But the document shows Trans-net’s new board had attempted to quash the investigation two months before Nyawo’s board appointment.
According to the document, human resources senior manager Jaap Jonker, who oversees Transnet’s Diner’s Club cards, initiated the investigation against Nyawo.
The document says Jonker – who reported to Moolman – would have had to review 1 500 credit cards to pick out Nyawo. Jonker this week confirmed he had picked up irregularities on Nyawo’s credit card spending in 1995: “I was just leafing through the stuff because I had some time on my hands.”
He passed his findings to internal forensic auditing head Abel Pienaar, who reported to Moolman and group general manager Gert Britz. Pienaar and Britz both confirmed their involvement, but said they were acting on Jonker’s findings, rather than orders from Moolman.
Pienaar and former group legal services head Pierre Pretorius formulated the charge sheet against Nyawo, liaising with Oosthuizen.
The document says Moolman warned Sigcau in December 1995 that Nyawo was being investigated, and he told her in February that serious consequences would follow should he be appointed to the board.
Moolman then told the rest of the Transnet board about the long-running probe, prompting chair Louise Tager to launch a general investigation into credit card abuse.
In March, Durban acting port manager Mark Cooper gave Nyawo the completed charge sheet and told him he faced a formal disciplinary inquiry.
Other correspondence shows Trans-net had decided in May to scrap the Nyawo inquiry, following the general probe which uncovered widespread lack of controls over the 4 000 credit cards issued to management. “It has been decided that all investigations, charges and proceedings be terminated,” Tager wrote to Transnet’s lawyers on the matter of Mlaba Makhaye on May 29.
Moolman was unavailable this week, but Tager said Funnell’s testimony was included as “mitigating” evidence in Trengove’s 81-page judgment. “You can’t take testimony out of context,” she adds.