Brand SA in shambles: Here’s how bad things are at the organisation promoting SA’s image - most expensive restaurant dishes in the world

No CEO, chief financial officer or marketing executive will worry about a crisis in the organization --
State-owned companies commissioned to promote the image of South Africa have fallen into chaos as the board has been accused of irregular bidding and asking for a raise.
This, following the CEO of the Brand SA (CEO)
Kingsley Mark hubeira was given special leave after announcing on last April that he wanted to commission a forensic investigation of suspicious bids from a digital marketing agency.
Chief Financial Officer Nadine Thomas was suspended two weeks ago and is now subject to disciplinary action after she found out how much she paid to a digital marketing company hired by the SA brand.
City Press learned that the only disciplinary charge against her was to communicate with Makhubela.
Thomas declined to comment.
Brand SA fired its CMO Linda Magapatona this month-Sangaret.
She is appealing her dismissal by the mediation, Mediation and Arbitration Commission.
Several SA brand employees told City News that the group was in chaos when President Cyril ramafusa was desperate to increase foreign investment when they were marketing abroad
"We are in a crisis.
"No trust, no morale," said one employee . ".
"When we write an email, it is to cover up our a * and have evidence in case we are targeted for suspicious disciplinary complaints.
"They also talked about the widespread fear and suspicion of the organization following the appointment of board member Thembi Kunene in August --
Acting as CEO. But Kunene-
Since the ankle injury at the World Economic Forum in Davos at the end of January, Msimang has been on sick leave leaving a ship without a rudder.
Nthabeleng Mokitimi, spokesman for the Ministry of Communications-
Minister of Communications, Stella endabini-
Abrahams "is concerned about the management status of the SA brand and possible governance violations, especially when South Africa is responsible for ensuring economic growth ".
"The board has made the Minister aware of the disciplinary issues in the administration.
She was particularly worried about the CEO's long absence.
"To this end, the minister will further engage with the board to determine its plan to stabilize the organization.
On November, City media reported that Makhubela was taken special leave on suspicion of false allegations against the company.
In what he said was trying to get rid of the blower hotline where he exposed corruption.
Makhubela, former ambassador, later director
The general manager of the tourism department was cleared after three investigations but still did not return to work.
He was charged with sexual harassment.
Last week, the chairman of the board, Kweyama khan, again insisted that Makhubela had been formally suspended-despite his denial-and that she refused to show his parking limit.
She said his disciplinary hearing was about to begin soon.
Brand SA sources said Kunene-
Msimang, a member of the marketing and communications board, was appointed acting CEO because she "needed a job ".
Although Babalwa Ngonyama, vice chairman of the board, told City Press that the trust deed did allow the appointment of board members, Kunene-
The staff said that before the end of her agency term, Msimang was no longer a trustee of the board, and she also served as director of CMO and corporate services.
They say this puts a large percentage of the company's executives in the hands of the board, which goes against good corporate governance principles.
The board said it was not unusual and that when other positions were vacant, the chief executive officer would normally be expected to be "waiting for it ".
The staff also claimed Kunene-
Msimang is a "tyrant and bully" who sends a warning letter in violation of good working habits.
"I had a bad boss, but she really took the cake," a staff member said . ".
"I can't believe someone is doing so badly in a public entity. . .
If we had a union, we would have gone on strike now.
But Brand SA says it can only deal with and investigate these allegations if we have specific details.
"We take good governance seriously," it said, adding that it would not be involved in "speculation about Kunene's status --
Msimang works outside of his duties as trustee of the board of directors and acting CEO.
"Another allegation is that the staff were instructed to include board members on overseas trips, including Kweyama's trip to Davos in January, where she visited the United Nations General Assembly last year, another board member was visited last year.
"As directed by khansile, the SA brand was informed to include board members of all international travel.
"It means allocating huge budgets for them to travel in business class, staying in expensive hotels, and not actually doing much when traveling," said another staff member . ".
But Brand SA said that "board travel is a process of standards and approval in these strategic platforms and activities", that is, the instructions issued by Kweyama are incorrect.
"In view of the high importance attached to delegations attending such meetings, the chairman and CEO of the board of directors are required to travel on business.
This is to ensure that the SA brand is able to promote, coordinate and participate in all planned official activities with potential investors, media relations and strategic partnerships with the SA team, "said the SA brand.
At the same time, Thomas is widely regarded as a person who insists on good financial management, and his suspension has put the staff under attack.
"At the last board meeting I attended, the chairman and members of the board instructed Nadine to look into their compensation, and they said it was too low.
"They want Nadine to make sure the increase and implement the increase," a source said . ".
City media heard allegations that the board wanted to pay by full payment
Revenue and monthly portion of the timing board.
On September 2017, a letter signed by former finance minister maluci Geba indicated that the board of directors of the Brand SA was classified
The time committee, the general member, has the right to earn R2 140 per day, and the chairman has the right to receive R3 493.
However, Kweyama allegedly wishes to receive a complete
The Time board chair is paid more than R800 000 a year, and the board expects the vice-chair to receive R700 000 and the chairman of the audit and risk committee to receive R600 000.
"The chief financial officer said she could not do so, the interest rate paid was set by the Ministry of Finance and approved by the Minister of Communications.
"The board rejected this explanation and told the CFO to investigate further and increase their pay," the source said . ".
"Nadine is under tremendous pressure, but she does not give in and will not pay the board members a higher hourly fee.
They were very angry and wasted valuable time that should have been used to discuss SA brand issues to debate and insist on increasing.
"While the board does not want to disclose the reasons for her suspension, Ngonyama said it was not an easy decision to make and it was so close to the fiscal year --
It is over, but it is necessary to do so because of the "serious ethical" issue and the call for reporting
They had no choice but to investigate the blower lines.
"When we conduct a preliminary investigation, it's clear that we can't ignore this and the allegations come from the people she worked with," she said . ".
The board denied asking for more money, saying no payments were received at all during the first year of the term.
The city media heard that Thomas found R18 million, three-
The annual digital marketing contract granted in 2014 was significantly more in scope than the company, and the cost of the company as of 2017 was R33 million.
The tender was re-published but was withdrawn in violation of the charge.
"Another thing that has caused tension between the board and Thomas is the failure of a bid from a digital agency, which is currently under investigation by the Treasury Department," another source said . ".
"Kweyama and the board insist that it is confidential that she has leaked information about the contents and progress of the investigation.
"Thomas explained the secrets of the matter.
The board declined, but the chief financial officer refused to disclose confidential information.
But last week, the board strongly denied asking for any such information.
"The board does not even have a tender committee," Kweyama said . ".
"The board has never been involved in the bidding.
"Kweyama said Magapatona-
Sangaret was dismissed after being convicted of 12 of 18 disciplinary charges, including poor performance, abuse of the company's leave policy and "illegal" recording of board meetings. But Magapatona-
Santaray fought back and said there was no show-
The allegations were made against her and the company miscalculated the number of days she took sick leave.
"I never had any complaints when I was 20 --
Plus years of marketing experience.
"I am a high performer who is more than expected," she said . ".
Bids from troubled media have been obtained a copy of a draft internal audit report compiled by BDO Advisory after reviewing the 2014 digital marketing bids granted to agency avatars.
The March 5 report states that although the bid "went through the formal competitive bidding process, the actions of the Brand SA and Avatar management in finalizing the contract, after winning the bid, it does not constitute a fair, transparent, competitive and fair process ".
It also found that the scope of the tender was concluded three months after the award of the tender, in violation of the public finance Administration Act.
It also noted that as additional services provided by Avatar for the SA brand were not approved by the Ministry of Finance, they should be considered as abnormal expenditures.
The report goes on to point out that Avatar's bill is not specific, but is based on the hourly rate of each employee working on the account.
In addition, BDO also asked the other three digital agencies to quote for the same work for Avatar and concluded that the agency was paid more than double the highest bid received.
But in an interview on Friday, Zibusiso Mkhwanazi, ceo of Avatar, said he was not asked to present his views.
He said that he showed the City Press a clause in the contract that provided for "launching projects approved due to industry reviews" and allowed additional work outside the scope of the tender.
"Avatar" won the R18 million contract in 2014, but in its third-
End of year contract.
Most of the differences are spent on "media", including ads on Facebook and Twitter, as well as other tasks that "cannot be counted in the original tender," Mkhwanazi said.
"For every task assigned by the senior Brand SA manager, we got the budget.
This was never queried at that time.
We even received a letter of recommendation from CEO Kingsley Makhubela.
"No one ever questioned our service," he said . ".
With respect to the allegations that his agency may have been overcharged, Mkhwanazi said that the auditors "did not compare Apple to Apple" and that their offer should be made with other bidders competing with Apple
He also showed the city media the numbers, indicating that Avatar charges employees far less time than the industry standard "to meet the additional requirements they want ".
He said that the company has achieved excellent results, significantly increasing the audience participation and website traffic of the Brand SA.
Mkhwanazi said the drama of the SA brand was unfairly "damaging" his business.
Brand SA declined to comment on the details of the investigation, saying it would do so once the investigation was over.
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