When former Deputy Minister of Health and Deputy Minister of Defence, Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge, was appointed as Executive Director of the NGO, the South African Institute for Advancement, known as Inyathelo, the organisation had a bank balance of R48-million and a global reputation among funders for excellence in the NPO sector.
“Madlala-Routledge, who also served as Chairperson of the ANC Parliamentary Caucus, Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly and Deputy Minister of Defence, has a long and distinguished history of campaigning for human rights and working for civil society organisations that deepen and advance democratic participation,” a statement on the Inyathelo website announced.
And then suddenly on 14 March this year Madlala-Routledge resigned “with immediate effect” as Executive Director, after the Inyathelo board had convened a disciplinary hearing into allegations of serious misconduct against her.
Four months into the job, “serious concerns about the conduct of Ms Madlala-Routledge were raised with the board” and she was “furnished with these concerns in writing and provided with an opportunity to comment on those concerns”.
Two months later, in December, information about the toxic fallout inside Inyathelo first emerged in public when the board suspended Madlala-Routledge.
The allegations against Madlala-Routledge are damning and included making various unilateral decisions without consulting Inyathelo directors, unauthorised expenditure, a failure to disclose key information to the Board and directors in relation to her decisions, the potential compromising conflict of interest, a failure to comply with internal policies as well as serious budgetary concerns.
In its statement the Board said that Madlala-Routledge had “failed to account for the allegations of serious misconduct and rather has chosen to deflect to the agreed exit of Ms Shelagh Gastrow, the former executive director of Inyathelo.
In 2007 Madlala-Routledge became the focus of a scandal when it became apparent that she had racked up about R500,000 in unauthorised expenditure during her terms as Deputy Minister of Health and Deputy Minister of Defence.
