Investigations into Ezemvelo’s decline

As the new Ezemvelo Wildlife board begins implementing measures to stabilise the entity, some officials could be shown the door amid a series of probes into the entity’s decline over the years.

Ezemvelo’s current challenges include crumbling infrastructure, dwindling revenue and a high vacancy rate which make it difficult for the entity to perform optimally.

So far, poor internal controls resulted in Ezemvelo recording a series of irregular transactions to the tune of millions of rands.

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Investigations into the irregular expenditure
Ezemvelo Wildlife acting CFO, Ebrahim Mulla, who recently briefed members of the KwaZulu-Natal Scopa, told the MPLs that the entity has recently concluded a number of investigations into the irregular expenditure dating as far back as 2013.

One hundred and four transactions to the value of R36,367 million were investigated and completed. The process to implement consequence management is currently with the employee relations office …
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In addition, Mulla said, the entity’s management was investigating 31 irregular transactions to the tune of R19,2 million.

The 31 transactions happened between 2017 and 2020.

“Disciplinary processes were conducted as part of consequence management,” Mulla said.

After being without a board for an extended period of time, an Ezemvelo board was finally appointed in June last year.

Lydia Johnson, the chairperson of the new board, said board members, upon their appointment in June, embarked on a process of stabilising Ezemvelo.

The board took a hands-on approach. In as far as all the issues that have been reported on, the board is dealing with them through its committees.
“I’m happy to indicate that we are seeing good signs of stability at the entity, which gives us hope that a lot of issues that have been raised will be addressed,” she said.

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Ezemvelo, which receives an annual allocation from the KZN Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs (EDTEA) has, since the Covid-19 outbreak in 2020, been struggling to get enough customers to its facilities, such as the Midmar Dam Nature Reserve in Howick and Hluhluwe-iMfolozi park in northern KZN.

Mulla said a number of measures to get more people to visit Ezemvelo’s facilities were being implemented.

Ezemvelo facilities were receiving a facelift while platforms such as social media were being used for the purposes of marketing the entity.

The measures, Mulla said, have also contributed to an increase in the number of customers, particularly in the entity’s camping business.

Scopa chairperson, Maggie Govender, said the committee was impressed with the the fact that under the new board, things appear “to be moving”.

“I’m sure that under your leadership, this entity — which has been a troubled entity — will move forward,” she said.

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Apart from challenges related to its operations, Ezemvelo has additional problems. Community members within some of its facilities often embark on protests designed to compel the entity to employ them. Also, some of the land within Ezemvelo’s facilities is currently subject to land claims.

However, Mulla said the land claims were “unlikely” to have a negative financial impact on Ezemvelo given that the entity enjoyed special legal protection as its properties were regarded as “protected areas”.

In the event of the land claims being recognised, Mulla said Ezemvelo could enter into agreements which would see the claimants getting a share of the proceeds from business activities in the relevant facilities