Ahmed Kathrada, chairman of a fund set up to help former Robben Island prisoners, has threatened legal action against a well-known events management company that was employed to raise money for the fund.
Kathrada has instructed his attorneys to take urgent action against Suzanne Weil & Associates to obtain financial audits and a list of names of ex-prisoners who were supposed to benefit from the fund.
Kathrada’s letter dated September 26 was leaked to the Mail & Guardian. He has refused to comment.
The demand is the latest twist in battle that has pitted former comrades against one another in sad contrast to the joyous reunion the ex-political prisoners held on Robben Island in 1995.
The reunion inspired Nelson Mandela to launch a fund a few months later to help former political prisoners, many of whom had been reduced to poverty.
A management committee drawn from the African National Congress’s top brass was established to oversee the fund. Kathrada was named chairman of the management committee and the Ex-Political Prisoners’ Fund.
The fund was launched in 1996 at the world premier of the film Mandela. That event was followed by celebrity benefits, including a dinner held in honour of comedian Bill Cosby.
All the proceeds from these events were earmarked for the fund, but questions have been raised about how much money was raised and who benefited from the proceeds.
Kathrada states in his letter to the attorneys Nicholls, Cambanis & Associates that Suzanne Weil opened an account for the Ex-Political Prisoners’ Fund.
Kathrada claims that Weil was also ”responsible for the disbursement of funds to the families of ex-political prisoners, to my knowledge in the form of a death benefit of R5000 each”.
He says numerous efforts have been made to obtain an audit of the fund and a list of its beneficiaries, but neither has been provided. Kathrada urges his attorney to take ”the necessary legal steps” as a ”matter of urgency”.
The letter was sent after a dispute broke out between former political prisoners and the management committee of the Ex-Political Prisoners’ Fund about missing yearly financial audits for the fund.
The disgruntled former prisoners repeatedly asked for the reports and for a list of beneficiaries, and then sent Kathrada a letter threatening legal action. They then formed an organisation called the Ex-Political Prisoners’ Council, which they say will represent the interests of their comrades more effectively.
Vincent James, chairman of the council’s coastal region, says the executive recently met a delegation headed by Minister of Defence Mosiuoa Lekota, a management committee member, to discuss resolving the conflict.
”We have been assured of the management committee’s desire to sort out the problems and we trust they are on top of the situation,” James says.