Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife’s leaders have been suspended this week over allegations of mismanagement and irregular expenditure. Both CEO Dr Bandile Mkhize and CFO, Darius Chitate, on Monday received notice of their suspension from the Board.
Musa Mntambo, spokesperson for Ezemvelo, told Tourism Update that the two leaders are currently awaiting a disciplinary hearing. A date for this hearing has not been set as yet, according to Mntambo.
The suspension of Mkhize and Chitate comes after an incriminatory report compiled by a task team, which was appointed in July this year by KZN Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs MEC, Mike Mabuyakhulu. The task team found that the recent restructuring process at Ezemvelo was flawed and unduly benefited management officials at the expense of lower-ranking employees.
While awaiting the outcome of the disciplinary hearing, Bheki Khoza will temporary take over the reins of Ezemvelo as acting CEO. He has a long-standing history at Ezemvelo as Executive Director for Biodiversity and Ecotourism Operations.
Ebrahim Mulla has been appointed as acting CFO. He has been working as Finance Manager for Ezemvelo since November last year. Previously Mulla was employed as Manager at Auditor General of South Africa.
Ezemvelo’s financial woes have repeatedly been in the news. In November last year, the KwaZulu-Natal legislature’s standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) found Ezemvelo’s finances to be problematic, as there had been negative qualified audits for five consecutive years. At that time, Mkhize assured Tourism Update this had nothing to do with fraud or misallocation of funds. Only a few months later, Ezemvelo’s CEO was accused of violating environment legislation. (See report here)
