Chain Vilakazi, the co-accused in the property scandal involving dismissed Spoornet CEO Zandile Jakavula, has resigned from the parastatal — allegedly after new charges of irregularities were brought against him.
Vilakazi, who was Spoornet’s asset protection head at the time, was found guilty last year by an internal inquiry of assisting Jakavula in buying a former railway house from the parastatal in an irregular manner.
Jakavula bought the riverfront property for his private use at a fraction of its value and had his subordinates in Spoornet renovate it, initially using taxpayers’ funds. The details of that deal were exposed by a Mail & Guardian investigation.
Both Jakavula and Vilakazi were told to accept demotion or face dismissal as punishment for their actions. Jakavula was fired after he declined to accept the demotion to general manager responsible for human resources.
Vilakazi, on the other hand, accepted his demotion to a senior manager’s position. He has since been out of the public spotlight.
The M&G learned that Vilakazi resigned from the company last November and served notice until early this year.
A senior Spoornet official claimed that Vilakazi left the company after new charges of irregularities were levelled against him.
Vilakazi this week confirmed his resignation, but denied that he had quit because Spoornet was planning to bring new charges against him.
He also denied that the terms of his departure were favourable, saying that Spoornet had given him “a raw deal”.
“It is not true that I was given a golden handshake. I did not even get a package that I had asked for. This is despite the fact that other people were given large packages when they left.”
On the alleged charges against him, he said: “I am not aware of any charges levelled against me. I resigned because my working conditions at Spoornet had deteriorated.
“When you are demoted you start working with your juniors. You request information to operate and you do not get it. Junior officials were starting to undermine me. No charges were laid against me,” he said.
Documents obtained by the M&G this week, however, show that Vilakazi was implicated in tender irregularities.
The irregularities relate to the awarding of a contract to a company called Olympic Training. The contract was the subject of an internal probe late last year.
The probe recommended that two Spoornet managers, R Miti and L Van Lelyveld, be charged with flouting tender procedures in the Olympic deal.
Miti was charged but Van Lelyveld was not. The role of Vilakazi in the Olympic deal is revealed in a report of the presiding officer in Miti’s case.
Miti was hauled before a disciplinary inquiry in January and February. The report of the presiding officer, Ahmed Cachalia, dated March 4, says Miti and Van Lelyveld blamed Vilakazi for the Olympic deal.
Miti, according to the report, said Vilakazi had instructed him to put the name of Olympic on the recommendation form.
This, according to Cachalia’s findings, was done before other quotations were acquired from suppliers and before Esselenpark, a Transnet business unit, had been given the right to first refusal.
The report quotes Van Lelyveld as saying that Olympic “had been introduced to me and brought into the company [Transnet] by Vilakazi”. She also claimed Vilakazi had “stated” that Olympic should be used.
In his report Cachalia expressed regret that Vilakazi’s version was not presented, as he had resigned. Cachalia also remarked on an unusual instruction that the disciplinary investigator had allegedly received from his superior not to contact Vilakazi during his probe.
Cachalia found Miti guilty as charged, saying that even if the instruction had come from Vilakazi, Miti should not have carried out an irregular instruction.
In his response this week, Vilakazi denied knowledge of the investigation, saying the implicated officials were merely using him as a scapegoat as he had left the employ of the company.
“I do not know anything about that. I have left the company and I do not know what is happening there. That man who was charged is a manager and is responsible for what happened. I was just given a plan for training and I approved it,” he said.
According to the report, Patrick Malaza, Spoornet executive manager for finance, told the inquiry that he had delayed payments to Olympic as the amounts were “too large”. He said he finally paid the company after Vilakazi informed him that “a due process had been followed”.