SANParks has spent more than R10 million (€564,280) on the disciplinary hearings of former CEO Fundisile Mketeni and two other senior officials who were accused of assaulting and sexually harassing a female employee in May 2021.
An employee working at the Kruger Shalati lodge in the park lodged a criminal complaint against Mketeni for allegedly assaulting her when she refused sexual advances, with the two senior officials reportedly joining in on the attack.
Mketeni and his co-accused were acquitted of the charges in the Bushbuckridge Magistrate’s Court in October last year, but Mketeni was sacked as CEO after the SANParks Board found him guilty of six of the seven internal charges levelled against him.
Responding to parliamentary questions from Democratic Alliance MP Annerie Weber, Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Barbara Creecy said R2.95 million (€166 400) had been spent on 18 days of hearings for Mketeni.
The amount included a R3 500 (€198) hourly rate for legal representation from Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr attorneys; a R2 800 (€158) hourly rate for Senior Counsel Advocate Nasreen Rajab-Budlender; and R30 581 (€1 785) in ‘travelling and related costs for witnesses’.
The disciplinary proceedings of Mketeni’s two co-accused – still in various stages of the process – have dragged on at immense cost. Creecy said R7.15 million (€403 000) had been spent, including R1.27 million (€71 650) paid to the chairpersons of the hearings.
Creecy did not provide a breakdown of what the remaining R5.88 million (€327 400) was spent on.
