The future of the South African National NGO Coalition (Sangoco) hangs in the balance after a meeting of its national executive committee (NEC) last weekend to discuss allegations by staff members against executive director Abie Ditlhake.
The allegations against Ditlhake include mismanagement, causing internal strife and weak leadership.
This week an NEC member expres-sed exasperation at Sangoco’s failure to deliver. ‘Since Ditlhake began, delivery has been unsatisfactory. The performance of Sangoco is not convincing at all. We are now sick and tired and are going to investigate long-standing staff complaints against Ditlhake.â€
Ditlhake’s decision-making powers have been suspended until a task team selected from the NEC has investigated the allegations against him. On March 3 the team will meet with the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration, which is handling a formal charge brought against Ditlhake by Sangoco staff at the beginning of this year. A decision about the future of the executive director will be made at the same time.
‘He will continue in a limited capacity while the investigation is under way,†said the NEC member.
Sangoco was formed in 1994 to counter the critical situation in which NGOs found themselves after 1990, when anti-apartheid funding started to dry up. The coalition is an umbrella body for about 4 000 NGOs.
South Africa’s non-profit sector is worth R14-billion a year and employs more than 600 000 people, making the sector’s workforce larger than others such as mining, national government, transport, financial services and insurance.
The Mail & Guardian reported at the beginning of February that the deputy director of the coalition, Moshe More, had resigned following irreconcilable differences with Ditlhake.
Ditlhake responded to the M&G article by sending an internal e-mail to all Sangoco employees accusing them of ‘undermin[ing] the organisational integrity [of Sangoco] and plac[ing] it into perpetual disreputeâ€.
Sangoco staff say the heart of the problems concern a job-restructuring process that Ditlhake undertook unilaterally nearly three years ago. According to the Sangoco mandate, any decisions taken at management level need to involve all stakeholders, including the secretariat and the NEC.
In 2000 the NEC, on Ditlhake’s suggestion, seconded More to set up an administration to organise the World Conference against Racism NGO Forum. This was a 12-month process during which time More was absent from his responsibilities as deputy director of Sangoco. He was assured by the executive director in writing that his position was secure, More has told the M&G.
When he returned the position of deputy director had been replaced by two new positions, an operations manager and a programmes manager, which had been approved by Ditlhake, but without the knowledge of the NEC, Sangoco staff members claim.
‘We had no knowledge at all of the restructuring and appointment process,†said the NEC member.
The general consensus among staff is that the restructuring was a political move aimed at strengthening Ditlhake’s position at Sangoco, says Sangoco programmes coordinator, Nhlanhla Ndlovu.
‘For some reason More became enemy number one — he was always singled out by Abie as the biggest pariah,†says Ndlovu. Staffers say More was critical of Ditlhake’s management style and was probably ostracised because he ‘challenged†him.
Shortly after the restructuring process, Ditlhake allegedly irregularly employed a programmes manager, Glen Farred, who is a ‘comradeâ€, says Ndlovu. Although the position was advertised, it was common knowledge among staff that Farred would be employed.
‘I knew months before the appointment that Abie would employ [Farred] — I didn’t sniff this from the air — I heard it from his very mouth — when I objected he warned that was the last time he would consult me on matters,†says Ndlovu in an
e-mail circulated to staff last week.
Ditlhake has failed to respond to a staff memorandum delivered to him last year, which demands, among other things, the minutes of an NEC meeting in November when he claimed the restructuring process and the appointment of Farred was approved.
‘To this day we have not seen the minutes,†said Ndlovu.
Instead staff were instructed by Ditlhake to ‘start delivering on [the] real reason for being part of Sangoco and engage in a way that is constructive and positiveâ€.
‘But programmes which were supposed to be issued last year have still not been delivered … Sangoco cannot even hold its own centre,†said an NGO representative.
Since Ditlhake’s appointment in 2000, 10 staff members have resigned.
The NEC member says if upcoming events — including a funding summit in March, a policy and development charter in June and the NGO week in September — are not successful, Sangoco will fold.
‘Unless the leadership at the national level is focused with a political direction and the capacity to manage a constructive relationship with the government, the coalition will collapse.â€
Ditlhake’s personal assistant, Shandy John, said that he was ‘unavailable for comment this weekâ€.