MEC Mbali Shinga chastises KZN old-age home over corruption allegations

The home, which receives about R2.5m a year, has been hit by strikes by staff

KwaZulu-Natal social development MEC Mbali Shinga has stripped the management committee of Pietermaritzburg-based Isabel Beardmore Home for the Aged of its duties in the wake of corruption allegations.

Shinga visited the home yesterday to present a report into fraud and extortion.

The home, which receives about R2.5m annually as a NGO, has been hit by a spate of strikes by unhappy staff who complained among other things of being short-paid last month.

Shinga said they would not tolerate corruption in their centres.

“From July 2021, the department received and attended to issues of governance complaints relating mainly to the Isabel Beardmore Home. The department also received allegations of mismanagement of funds by the board members,” she said.

The management was doing as they pleased but now things should change.Anonymous staff member

An investigation began in August last year and the scope was extended to include the Swayimane Residential Facility, initially not included in the probe, she said. An independent organisation was appointed to oversee the management committee's daily governance and financial responsibilities. Some of the findings include: 

• Isabel Beardmore Home does not have an official governance structure as the management committee established in February 2022 was not registered with the national department of social development;
• Noncompliance with the NPO Act as the organisation has not submitted its annual reports including its annual financial statements to the department for four consecutive years from March 2020;

• Several incidents of financial misconduct, including:

  • an amendment of Absa bank account signatories where the organisation unlawfully added the chair as a signatory;
  • noncompliance to the supply chain management processes;
  • failure to keep accurate financial records; and
  • submitting falsified documentation;
• Appointment of committee members as fully paid employees; and 
• Improper personal gain and failure to recuse oneself from official actions and decision-making processes which were bound to result in improper personal gains.

Shinga said criminal charges have been opened against some board members. The police did not respond to queries about the status of the charges. 

One staff member, who asked not to be named, said she hoped things would change after the MEC's intervention.

“The management was doing as they pleased but now things should change because of the new structure which will monitor their operations,” she said.

Another staff member said she thought the MEC was going to dissolve the “corrupt management committee”.

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