The knives are out at the National Development Agency (NDA), with staff at the organisation insisting that a ministerially ordered investigation into employment irregularities and misuse of funds be transparent.
Minister of Social Development Zola Skweyiya this week appointed a team to conduct a preliminary investigation into the NDA, following last week’s Mail & Guardian report of staff discontent with NDA operations.
The investigation by Gobodo Forensic Audit Consultants and the auditor-general will focus on allegations of conflicts of interests involving senior NDA managers in the allocation funds for poverty-alleviation projects, as well as malpractices with regard to the employment of staff.
Established by an Act of Parliament, the NDA started operating in 2000. Its chief purpose is to channel government and donor funds to NGOs working in fields such as adult literacy, HIV/Aids awareness and human rights education.
It has been dogged by allegations of corruption, misuse of funds, infighting and incompetence among senior managers. The latest controversy concerns the appointment this month of former Pan Africanist Congress secretary general Thami ka Plaatjie as strategic and policy coordinator.
NDA chief operations officer Pule Zwane now admits that Ka Plaatjie was given a different post from the one that had been advertised. Last week the organisation insisted that his post was advertised.
Zwane admitted that the NDA has failed to disburse substantial amounts of the money at its disposal.
”Ever since I took over in July, about 25 people, including senior managers, have left. Most of them resigned when they were asked to account for their work. We had a situation where millions of rands given to us by Treasury last year went into the private account of the finance director’s personal assistant. When we started disciplinary proceedings, she resigned.”
Skweyiya’s spokesperson Mbulelo Musi said that the investigation was under way and a report could be expected ”soon”.