A former leader of police union Popcru has accused the union’s current president and treasurer of self-advancement at the expense of members.
The claims are made in an affidavit by Meshack Mpemva, former board member of Popcru’s investment arm, the Popcru Group of Companies (PGC). It was made at the Pretoria Central police station in November last year.
Mpemva refused to talk to the Mail & Guardian but police sources confirmed that an investigation is under way. The affidavit claims that, among other things:
- The PGC chief executive, Zwilenkosi Mdletshe, gave himself a R1-million loan to buy a house after the board refused to approve his loan application. The chairperson of PGC’s remuneration committee, Sibusiso Maphatiane, is also accused of financial irregularities.
- An R18,5-million investment to import cement from China in 2007 went up in smoke, with no one held accountable.
- The Popcru president, Zizamele Cebekhulu, and treasurer, Themba Matsane, have spent hundreds of thousands of rands a year from a union education fund — intended for poor members and their children — for their own studies at an international business school.
Lawyers acting on behalf of the four have denied all the claims of impropriety. Mpemva says that Maphatiane and Mdletshe proposed the cement deal to the PGC board in preparation for the 2010 Fifa World Cup. Delivery was later confirmed to the board, but the cement was allegedly stolen from a Durban warehouse rented for R3-million.
The affidavit says that with the agreement of the board five trucks of the remaining cement were delivered to Mpemva’s Soweto shop for sale and repayment to the PGC.
“There was no return on the cement investment; the R18,5-million that PGC paid out was never recovered; and no explanation has been made yet as to what happened by the people involved,” the document reads.
Investigation
Responding to questions the PGC said: “We assume that reference is being made to the shop of Mr Meshack Mpemva who is no longer a board member. We suggest that you contact Mr Mpemva for an answer to that question.”
Mpemva said that he had done what was requested of him. “All the money that was made was deposited into their [PGC’s] account.” The PGC’s lawyer, Gary Pritchard, said that the group had launched a full investigation into the cement transaction and that civil action was “imminent to recover certain monies owing to PGC”.
Mpemva also claimed that Cebekhulu and Matsane, whom the Popcru website confirms have obtained MBA degrees, had studied for them through the Business School Netherlands South Africa and that the €25 600 tuition fee had come from a “social responsibility fund” established to provide bursaries for union members and their children.
Popcru attorney Kevin Allardyce denied that Cebekhulu had used the social fund for his studies, which had begun long before the fund was set up. Matsane’s application to the “specialised fund” was approved by fund custodians who were not Popcru leaders and applied “special criteria”.
“As the treasurer of the large organisation like ours, it is appropriate that he [Matsane] should improve his skills so as to advance the interests of Popcru itself.” The affidavit alleges that Mdletshe granted himself a R1-million loan in August 2008, seven days after the board declined to approve his loan application because it conflicted with governance rules.
The money was allegedly transferred to the bank account of Unique Standing Investments, a PGC management company, and then to Mdletshe’s Absa bank account. Pritchard said there was no truth in the allegation and Allardyce said that Popcru had not investigated the allegations because no members had complained.
“We do not know of any wrongdoing by the two individuals [Mdletshe and Matsane]. We, however, learned that a criminal case was opened with the police against the treasurer.” He said the individuals concerned were cooperating with the investigation.