The chair of the South African National Civics Organisation (Sanco) has come out fighting after allegations that his organisation had embezzled millions and he was obstructing a probe into its finances.
Mlungisi Hlongwane said on Sunday the ANC had never given Sanco a R1,3-million donation.
Meanwhile Sanco, at its national executive meeting, set up a commission to probe the allegations of financial mismanagement.
ANC spokesperson Smuts Ngonyama said he knew nothing about the donation, but there was nothing wrong if alliance partners assisted each other. Regarding the allegations of mismanagement, he said Sanco would have to deal with that itself.
Hlongwane said he was opening a charge of forced entry and theft against Sanco general secretary Dan Mofokeng, a former Gauteng health MEC, and treasurer Godfrey Jack, a former Port Elizabeth civic leader, who both resigned from their positions in Sanco last week and then made the allegations.
Hlongwane claimed the two forcibly entered Sanco's Johannesburg offices this weekend, removed equipment and then put a new lock on the doors.
Mofokeng and Jack said they had tendered their resignations after their efforts to clean up Sanco's finances were allegedly thwarted by Hlongwane, who allegedly benefited from the mismanagement.
Mofokeng said he had resigned so that when the details of the alleged embezzlement emerged, he would not be tarred with the same brush as the culprits.
Jack said shares in Sanco Investment Holdings (SIH), of which he is chairperson, were allegedly sold without board approval and some of the funds used to pay salaries. This was at a time when Sanco was bailed out by a R1,3-million donation from the ANC. Among the shares sold, he said, were:
- A 10 percent stake in Excel was sold for R8-million in 2000 but in SIH's books the sale price was entered as R2-million.
- Shares in Tourvest were bought at 50c and sold at 475c. The R250 000 profit has not been accounted for.
- There was no board resolution for the reduction of a 30 percent holding in Hlano to five percent, which resulted in at least a R100-million inflow into SIH coffers.
- The R1,3-million donation was spent within two weeks on salaries and a series of cash withdrawals, some allegedly to the then general secretary Mbongeni Ngubeni, now an MP.
- The organisation also bought three cars for office bearers for R152 000 that were never put on the asset register.
Jack said every month there was a summons from some organisation seeking its monies or assets. All these summonses had emanated during the period before he took over as treasurer in April last year.
Hlongwane said he received a call from Ngonyama asking about the alleged donation and denying that the ANC ever made the donation. Ngonyama could not be reached for comment.
Hlongwane said the two were opening themselves up to a defamation suit from the ANC. He said Sanco had a car scheme where officebearers had the instalments deducted from their salaries. Mofokeng had benefited from the scheme because Sanco bought him a 4x4 vehicle worth more than R400 000, he claimed.