Portnet officials, ignoring orders from parent company Transnet, went on a lavish golfing weekend in June. Andy Duffy reports
ONE of the final orders given by outgoing Portnet chief executive Neil Oosthuizen was that the company should ignore the budget imposed by parent Transnet on its 1996 golf charity day.
The organisation instead paid R664 000 – nearly R400 000 above Transnet’s approved budget – as more than 300 people in June enjoyed a weekend golfing spree at Victoria Falls, hosted by celebrity Eon de Vos. No black managers were invited to the event.
Internal documentation shows Portnet’s legal services executive manager, Themba Mthethwa, tried in August to track down how the money had been spent.
The documents, written by Portnet communications manager Madelaine van Wyk in response to his inquiries, show Portnet’s guests – chosen by top management – included executives and their wives from Nissan, Samancor, Iscor, Arthur Andersen, Absa and Mercedes Benz.
The guest list also included 29 Portnet managers, most accompanied by their wives, and from head office, Transnet’s group general manager, Dr Willie Coetzee, and his wife.
According to Van Wyk, some cash was supposed to be recovered from the sponsors’ guests, Portnet middle managers and their guests. It is not clear how much Portnet recovered.
Coetzee, who authorised the expedition, if not the final expenditure, was unable this week to comment on the trip. He was relieved of his responsibility for Portnet in May, after the trip had been authorised.
Oosthuizen, who joined Outspan International in September as general operations manager, was unavailable for comment.
Mthethwa and acting chief executive Ivor Funnell also refused to comment, and Van Wyk is on leave until next week.
Van Wyk says in the documentation, however, that every year “potential sponsors (companies involved in the maritime industry) are invited to the launch of the golf day. At this function funds are raised for beneficiaries. This takes the form of an auction during which the various golf holes and tennis and bowls events are bidded on by the various sponsors.”
Portnet and its guests had decided they should go somewhere special for 1996 – it marked a decade of fund-raising through golf. Sun International’s various resorts, which had been the venues for the past 10 years, were judged not up to the mark. So Victoria Falls was chosen instead.
“Although the actual approved budget [R275 260] was exceeded,” Van Wyk writes, “this was done with the knowledge and explicit directive of the then chief executive officer [Oosthuizen].”
The papers show Portnet was unable to get suitable quotes from sister company South African Airways, nor Transnet’s travel agency Connex, to fly the contingent to Zimbabwe. Instead, it paid Oriole Express R360 000 to hire a Boeing 727-100.
Other expenditure included R8 000 to De Vos, R14 696 to Liquor Town for alcohol, R3 500 to Vana-shree Moodley for make-up and more than R22 100 to Acamisa for golf shirts and hats. The papers show Portnet had approached Miss South Africa to come along, but decided she was too expensive.
Portnet also donated R42 450 to the three charities benefiting from the outing: NSRI, Biblia and Missions to Seamen. In all, the golf trip raised R180 000 for the charities, according to Van Wyk.
Portnet’s bill also included R150 000 to tour operator Green Route, which included the cost of accommodating the 308 participants at the Elephant Hills hotel, chosen “because of its ability to handle groups of this size and the availability of a golf course, tennis courts and a bowling green”.
Other internal documents show Portnet auditors said the amount spent on the event “appears to be grossly excessive”.
Funnell also quoted the golf trip to the independent inquiry into allegations against sacked executive Sipho Nyawo. Funnell used the trip as an example to show that Portnet management selectively followed company rules.