Staff Reporter.
The Nelson Mandela Foundation (NMF) is embroiled in a scandal related to allegations of procurement impropriety, misuse of company credit cards and abuse of power against its CEO Sello Hatang and COO Limpho Monyamane.
Sunday Times Daily reported that it has spoken to three people in the foundation, who are employed in junior and senior roles. They confirmed the issues raised in the whistle-blowers’ document.
Though the foundation’s chairperson, Prof Njabulo Ndebele would not go into the detail about the allegations, the publication understands the list of complaints include, among others:
- Creating a toxic working environment and bullying; and
- Intimidating staff in the finance department to appoint service providers outside procurement processes.
“We confirm that the Nelson Mandela Foundation (the NMF) is in the process of conducting an investigation to determine the merits of a complaint that was recently received,” Ndebele said.
“The NMF is not at liberty to disclose the particular complaint as the subject matter relates to an ongoing investigation.
However, the NMF confirms that it is not taking the complaint lightly and is implementing the necessary steps to ascertain the merits of the complaint and (will) respond accordingly.”
The paper was able to speak to an ex-staffer who corroborated some of the claims.
Hatang and Monyamane are also accused of failing to reconcile their foundation credit cards, making purchases at Chicken Licken, Nandos, Steers, Leroy Merlin and Cycle Lab.
The NMF was established in 1999 when Nelson Mandela, after serving one term as the first democratically elected president of SA, continued with charity work to promote human rights and democracy.