ACTING head of finance at Unisa, Dr Reshma Mathura, has engaged AfriForum’s private prosecutions unit, to legally support her after she allegedly became the “target” of a bribery scandal.
On April 2, Mathura – who is the acting vice principal for finance, supply chain management and business enterprise - allegedly received notification of four “unexpected and unsolicited” cash deposits of R330 into her private bank account.
She believes this is part of a “dirty tricks” campaign because she had exposed corruption and suspicious transactions at the university in the past.
Mathura’s legal team - AfriFourm's Private Prosecution Unit - claims that the four cash deposits, from students who were on the NSFAS student allowance list, was fraudulent and made “to slander her and remove her from her position” at the university.
Advocate Gerrie Nel from AfriForum’s prosecution unit, said they were disappointed and concerned that Unisa had failed to take decisive action to defend and protect Mathura, who was a senior manager and against malicious conduct, for merely doing her duty.
Nel said as was expected from responsible employees, especially in the finance department, Mathura immediately enquired as to the origin of the deposits from her bank.
He said the four individuals were unknown to Mathura, and they had no reason to deposit money into her account.
“Concerned that she may be the victim of ‘dirty tricks,’ she did a cursory investigation and established that the names appear on an NSFAS student allowance list that she received for approval on March 14.
“According to bank officials, the fact that the payments were registered simultaneously indicates that it is a corporate payment or payment from a single account,” he said.
The transactions, Nel said, could have been a mistaken deposit or a test of Mathura’s resolve against corruption.
He said the prosecution unit sent an email to the university head, Professor Puleng LenkaBula, on April 9, and notified her that their legal team anticipated that the university may receive a complaint or whistle-blower report, that Mathura had accepted money from students.
He claimed that when Unisa held a meeting with Mathura, they did not notify her of the whistle-blower report.
Nel whose office was informed of the content of the “so-called report”, said he believed that the content and timing of the report confirmed the malicious and false nature of the incident.
“To us, the circumstances of the payments and perhaps any malicious reports that may follow create the ineluctable inference that there must be a puppet master who caused, although amateurish, the payments to create suspicion.
“Having identified the students by name, we expect disciplinary processes will immediately obtain versions from these students before any disciplinary steps are even considered against our client,” Nel added.
The allegations, Nel said, would be denied with the contempt it deserves.
Mathura was advised to “rather err on the side of caution” and to consider registering a criminal case against the four students for seemingly offering our client an unsolicited benefit or corrupt payment.
“Understanding that it may impact the reputation of the university, we expect that they will support Mathura, who is a victim of malicious conduct.
“There is no link between her and the students or any payment from students into her account,” Nel said.
He said while Mathura was advised not to speak to the media, she remained committed to continuing her duties, and exposing corruption and suspicious transactions as she had done before.
He claimed that Unisa had shown little interest in investigating the malicious conduct thus far.
“We will make the facts available to the SAPS, but we will make it available to any formal investigation or process conducted by the university.
“We have been informed that the ‘whistle-blower’ indicated that he/she would report the matter to SAPS and sincerely hope it happened. We have not been informed of a police investigation and have requested for us to be informed if they were aware of such an investigation,” Nel said.
Mathura also had concerns that her private bank account details had become available to students.
“An investigation into managing personal information at the university is perhaps apt. We hope that the university will take action to support and protect employees by doing what is right,” Nel added.
The POST