ANNEXURE A IN MY DEFENSE.txt
As it is apparent that I am not going to be given a fair chance to speak and defend myself, in
closure of my communications with all of you I would like to shed some light on the events as
they actually happened.
This is an issue of principle for me - its imperative that I make you all understand that it
was due to no fault of my own (other than being honest and naive) that I could not complete the
task set before me. It has been to my detriment as all prospective employers naturally assume
the fault lies with you, as an employee, for having left after only 8 months. Nobody considers
that perhaps it wasnt your doing, or that perhaps your ethics are grossly incompatible with
those of the organisation that you were working for. In light of this, you will all be made to
understand exactly what happened and why so that I can clear my name. You will all remember me
for that. I will not go down as being painted incompetent and guilty of gross misconduct,
especially by others who may well be. The last year has been something I would never wish on
anybody. But for the fact that I my integrity is in tact, I have nothing else - no vested
interests, ulterior motives, hidden agendas or secrets to hide ; nothing to gain from this,
financially or otherwise. From the beginning I have had only the interests of the members, the
mineworkers, who paid my salary, at heart.
I am a person who values integrity and honesty, above anything else. I take pride in being good
at what I do. If anyone could clean the data at the Mineworkers Provident Fund it would have
been me. Even though my employment had been terminated, the task I had personally taken on and
set myself of 'cleaning the MWPF data' in April 2003 was as of yet incomplete with many
questions unanswered. And so the start of 6 months of of solid work and intense research into
the mining industry in South Africa to try and gain an understanding of what had happened, and
why. I have visited, researched and extensively analysed information from, amongst others, the
employers Annual Reports for the last 5 years, the DME, the Department of Labour, Statistics
SA, NUM, Chamber of Mines, COSATU, FSB, Mine Health and Safety, TEBA, MEPF, SARS and the Reserve
Bank. It has taken me this long before I have satisfied myself with an answer that will allow me
to move on with some peace within myself. Not because I couldnt clean the data, but perhaps
rather that no one ever intended for me to clean the data in the first place.
Herewith a list of all the allegations made against me :
An exerpt from the settlement agreement given to me by Ann Weisz which I refused to sign :
SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT
Entered into between
LEKANA EMPLOYEE BENEFIT SOLUTIONS
(previously Momentum Group)
hereinafter referred to as ‘Lekana’ and ‘the company’
and
Suiko Alston
Hereinafter referred to as the ‘Employee’
1.
RECORDAL
The parties hereby record the following in anticipation of a final settlement being reached
related to the termination of the employee’s services:
1.1
Lekana has advised the employee of its intention to take disciplinary action against the
employee for serious misconduct, the charges being related to –
sub-standard performance
unfounded and defamatory allegations made against at least 3 employees of the
company
whilst not cooperating with forensic
investigators appointed to investigate the
allegations
threats against the company which could result in serious financial and reputational
risk
unauthorized removal and attempted removal of confidential client information from
Lekana’s premises
repeated absences from the office
conspiracy theories related to employees unauthorized use of trust moneys.
LETTER FROM THE SHERIFF
We are further instructed that during your period of employment with our client you made various
defamatory and disparaging allegations relating to fraud and/or unauthorised use of trust funds
to a number of our client's staff. In this context we deem it appropriate to record that our
client immediately advised its forensic auditors to investigate your allegations, that you
refused to co-operate with the auditors instead absenting yourself from the offices and that
Page 1
ANNEXURE A IN MY DEFENSE.txt
your allegations were investigated and found to be devoid of all truth and substance.
________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________
GENERAL COMPLIANCE & PERFORMANCE
________________________________________________________________________________________________
______
From:
Suiko Alston
Sent:
Wednesday, May 14, 2003 1:59 PM
To:
Ian Hunter
Subject:
FW: Reconciliations for JMPF and CJPF funds
Hi Ian ;o)
As per the following email I received from Ann, I have had a chat to Muriel concerning the
recons, and she has given me some basic information.
Would it be ok if I popped in for 10mins to come and hear what you have to say so I can get a
better understanding of the problems you're experiencing ?
I will be also be sitting with Willie for the next recon @ monthend.
I am coming to see Hannelie tomorrow morning, else just let me know when its convenient for you
- i stay in Pretoria so I come past twice a day anyway
Suiko
-----Original Message----From:
Ann Weisz
Sent:
Wednesday, April 30, 2003 10:13 AM
To:
Suiko Alston
Cc:
Francesca Sammarchi
Subject:
Reconciliations for JMPF and CJPF funds
[Suiko Alston]
Hi Suiko
I had a brief chat to Ian Hunter who is the actuary to the above 2 funds. He indicated that we
are still experiencing problems with regards to recons not been done properly/timeously. Please
could you have a chat to him /Muriel to ascertain what the issues are.
Thanks
Ann
________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________
HERE IS MY JOB SPEC AS RECEIVED
________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________
-----Original Message----From:
Francesca Sammarchi
Sent:
Wednesday, April 16, 2003 11:13 AM
To:
Suiko Alston
Cc:
Ann Weisz; Hannelie van Niekerk
Subject:
INFORMATION SPECIALIST - FOCUS AREAS
Hi there
I thought that I would just concretise our discussions last Monday (7/04).
Your Key focus areas will be:
1) Data for MWPF integrity and maintenance - implementation of controls and reconcilaitions
2) MWPF data cleanup
the above two points to be your area of priority for the next 6 months (other project may run in
tandem and we can discuss the priority of these).
3) Management of the MWPF data team
4) Data integrity and maintenance for the rest of NRFS and MAC (the latter once we have
finalised corporatisation issues between the 2 areas).
5) P- Drive - redesign and easy access for users - this will include the MWPF F drive.
6) Websites - data access functionality - what our clients will want to see.
7) New system platform - from a data integrity, scaleabilty and maintenance point of view.
Other issues discussed:
1) History of MEB IT as relates to current system issues facing NRFS and MAC. Details of
decisions made thus far - confidentiality re BTSI.
2) Details of data issues i.e. duplicate members; risk premiums; members that have ceased
contributions; incorrect contributions; unclaimed benefits as relates to all funds for NRFS as
well as MWPF (latter - also the non recording of transfer values).
3) Details relevant to your team - leadership issues as well extreme pressure on all team
members of late.
Page 2
ANNEXURE A IN MY DEFENSE.txt
4) MWPF - client orientation - i.e. who the client is, what it is that they do, membership
profile, special service issues i.e. turnaround times and service centre delivery.
5) BTSI's role and advice on how to approach Mike and Edward.
Immediate functions / requirements
1) Restructure of team - re people, functions and controls. This must be approached from team
perspective and all decisions actions and controls must be documented. Data incoming matrix to
be set up and all recon controls to be rigidly implemented and documented - progress reports
implemented and problem clients identified. Proposals of your actions to rectify issues.
2) Investigate MWPF clean up project to date - special reference to where Shawn has kept stuff
and where and what he has changed. Discuss with Hannelie and get all documents from her. We also
need to urgently work on all unclaimed benefits.
3) Arrange move - not major priority and may have to look at space issues.
4) Get the access that you need to all systems.
5) Get up to speed with the different systems; Mainframe ebep, eben, ebenA; eb adm suite.
6) Meet with Hafeez so that you can understand his work and development on Acumen. The
understanding of the integration and communication between the areas is vital.
7) Meet with Elizabeth Molomo re the P-drive & Website projects - remember your focus is on the
data elements of these. Elizabeth is managing the set up of the websites - currently in
production (some due dates overdue already) MWPF - static info; Pioneer static and data
functionality; NRFS static, fund and data functionality - the latter though I see as being held
over to Newco implementation; Unitrans and I think ABI.
8) Meet with Ed Bouwer to establish relationship as well as to check on Website progress - also
get understanding of their development problems related to the member info access re websites
(has been cited as reasons for delay and while I understand the rationale I do not understand
the underlying technical issues).
9) I want you involved in the Systems Ops meetings as active participant - review items and get
understanding of what we are busy with.
10) I want you involved in our evaluation of the MEB IT solutions.
General
We agreed a strict project management approach to all you key focus areas would be implemented
from scoping, through to actions through to measurement. This is important so that we can
evaluate your progress (and that of your teams). Most of the items that need urgent attention
really projects anyway.
I would like your thought on the above as well as a documented version of how you want to
approach all these issues (as well as any progress made thus far). Please can I have this by the
end of next week.
Regards
________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________
In an email sent to Hafeez Rahman in April I made my objectives explicitly clear :
'I realise I've taken on quite a daunting task here, and several people are standing by waiting
to see what happens or 'how long I last' for whatever reasons, but I've made a commitment and
have a responsibility to be as meticulous, thorough, honest and independent/impartial in my
assessment and subsequent recommendations to Fran. So i'm not just going to stick my finger to
plug the holes in the dyke, to keep something hobbling along when it should be taken out back
and shot sometimes i think
'
I DO NOT LIE. I made this very clear to all and sundry at Lekana from the beginning. In several
emails to Francesca I expressed that my primary commitment was to be honest in my reporting to
her. I stated that she pays enough people to tell her what she would like to hear so at least
from me, she could always be assured of the truth - regardless of whether she liked it or not,
or what she did with it.
Let us examine more closely for a minute the precise definition of 'clean the data' . Does that
mean fix up the spelling errors ? Update the birthdates ? Delete the duplicates ? Fix the data
so the inconsistencies would not be detected during an audit ? Without a computer - clean the
data with Handy Andy ?
Being sufficiently qualified in what I do, my understanding of the above was potentially
different from that of the generally IT - illiterate person giving me the instructions. As such,
on many occasions I requested clarification and more frequent input at a strategic level on this
issue from Francesca, but needless to say, from the beginning there was never a meeting of
minds. It was crucial to establish this, because without it there was no departure point to
speak of. In one email to her, I compared her understanding of a data cleanup to a facelift,
whereas mine was an enema.
________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________
Page 3
ANNEXURE A IN MY DEFENSE.txt
POOR PERFORMANCE
Performance is related to an employee's ability to do a job, as opposed to misconduct which is
behavioural. I was accused of gross misconduct, related to, amongst others, substandard
performance.Guilty of misconduct because you dont have the ability to perform ?
This implies that I do not have the ability to do the job. If you havent done so already, please
be so kind as to peruse my CV so as to obtain an understanding of my background and
qualifications. I can speak 4 languages, play the piano, and have been a NAUI divemaster since
the age of 15. I have achieved acadermic honours for 12 years whilst at school and obtained my
BCom (Informatics) last year in September from the University of Pretoria Cum Laude. For our
third year Informatics project, we wrote a portfolio management system which earned the second
highest mark in the group that year - 81.3%.
To clean the MWPF data is a gargantuan task. At a bare minimum, rest assured that it will take a
team of 10 - 20 people, working for 18 - 24 months. Given the extensive sunk costs on
development of Orbit with nothing to show for it, a reasonable person would combine the data
cleanup with migration to a new system. This would make sense in terms of costs, control and
efficiency and time frames. I have worked on similar projects at D&E Medical Aid Administrators
in the Cape who were migrating off an AS400 to an SQL database as well as a data warehousing
project for the actuarial department at Sanlam in Belville. In addition to which, I have been
responsible for several cleanups of legacy data including GEPF, UIF and Natal Medical Aid with
specific objectives of investigations into fraud in my employ at Deloitte & Touche Forensic
Services. Data mining, information analysis and integration are what I have studied for 10 years
at University to do. I studied Informatics, and have 2 modules left to complete Accounting
Sciences as a second major. I have 11 years of IT experience.
Why in their right minds did Southern Life employ me?
What did they expect me to do ?
THE RESOURCES ALLOCATED TO ME FOR THE DATA CLEANUP PROJECT
STAFF
Even though I was initially in charge of the data team, they were generally busy doing the
normal operational data functions and a significant amount of other unnecessary tasks (due to
having to manually do things which the system should do for them).
I approached Hafeez with respect to sending the data team on SQL training to help me with the
cleanup. External training, even though I had organised a discount rate, was out of the
question. Internal training, at my cost to the company was also not an option. The issue of
training had been raised by myself as well as the individual data team members on various
occassions with no success at all.
________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________
From:
Francesca Sammarchi
Sent:
Thursday, April 03, 2003 10:59 AM
To:
Elizabeth Molomo
Cc:
Hafeez Rahman; Suiko Alston
Subject:
RE: The Reservoir Retirement Fund
I believe that you are also looking at an umbrella fund that may already be in the MAC stable.
I probably need more information from you on more generic fund issues:
What is the objective of the Fund - and who is your target market. What sort of benefits are you
offering ? Will it be one set benefits per employer or will the benefits be categorised within
an employer ? What is your minimum membership requirement (as costing will probably work on a
sliding scale - also dependent on benefit structure) ? How will you handle the board of trustees
- usual for umbrella funds is an overall board usually consisting of internal (NRFS) staff as
trustee appointments - or will this be drilled down to employer and employee level - any measure
of external trustee meetings at employer level will increase the cost dramatically ? What will
the payment method be for claims ? How electronic will the management of premiums, claims and
queries etc be (this is a huge cost risk area) ? Fund accounting at Employer level or at Fund
level ? Will there be quarterly or annual interest allocations ? Envisaged number of investment
managers ? How many reserve accounts ? Method of bonus (surplus) allocations ?
My comments are:
Housing loans will only ever be entertained via a 3rd party at this stage. Data must be
electronic - anything else is really too expensive to run and preferably you are looking at one
pay point per employer. Also note that criteria for adm resources i.e. staff is also completely
different to what we would normally use as there are credit control and fund accounting issues
to consider - so where we would normally work on 1 administrator and half an accounting and half
a data person on 4 000 members - you are probably reducing this ratio to 1000 members or less
depending on the number of participating employers. Any increase beyond the annual benefit
statement fee will increase std adm fee.
Page 4
ANNEXURE A IN MY DEFENSE.txt
Elizabeth, just a question - why an umbrella fund - they are extremely expensive to run and
usually very cumbersome from a system perspective and the profit margins are extremely thin if
any ? Is this a particular service that we want render to a particular industry - I am just
trying to understand the need as this (umbrella funds) is not our target market (neither is it
MAC's) e.g. Bridging fund was set up to facilitate growth on the MWPF fund and our adm fee is
way below what we should really be charging (we charge on average R22 per member - 0.75% of
salary worked back to fee per member).
Just off the top of my head, I cannot see us charging much less than R50 per member to make it
worth our while.
I would suggest that you send through the rules so that I can get a feel for the fund.
regards
-----Original Message----From:
Elizabeth Molomo
Sent:
Thursday, April 03, 2003 10:18 AM
To:
Francesca Sammarchi
Subject:
The Reservoir Retirement Fund
Hi there
Have you heard of the Reservoir Retirement Fund?
Well, it's my new umbrella fund that is in the process of being registered. In order for you to
give me an indication of what admin resources and fees will be required, what info should I give
you. Off hand what I can think of is
numerous paypoints (one pay point per participating employer)
housing loans will be provided via a third party
annual benefit statements
quarterly trustee meeting
thanks
Liz
Elizabeth M Molomo
Accounts Executive
(011) 491 6125
082 419 0264
--end
________________________________________________________________________________________________
__
'we would normally work on 1 administrator and half an accounting and half a data person on 4
000 members'
Given a membership of say 200 000 members this would mean according to what the administrators
'work on', mineworkers should have 100 data administrators. Given the current system
deficiencies, the backlog of work, the lack of training and skills as well as the concommitant
employee loyalty as a result of these factors, 100 data staff might have almost be enough for
the mineworkers data. Not 4.
BUDGET
I had no budget allocated whatsoever. The only invoice I submitted was for the data capture of
the terminally ill contribution schedules for about R1000, which I had to request like all other
employees without any management functions.
SUBSEQUENT INSTRUCTIONS
Francesca indicated to me that she suspected Shawn van der Merwe of questionable activities, but
that she had no proof. She would be happy if I could help her do so, and if not then
'performance manage' him out. I submitted my second report, with over 40 pages of original
evidence included, as requested by Francesca. Needless to say, nothing ever happened, until
almost a year later when the information was used as evidence in the hearings and subsequent
dismissal of Shawn van der Merwe a few weeks ago. Surely if one was genuinely concerned, you
would have raised the issues right then and there, in July last year ? When employee fraud is
generally rife and allowed to happen continually in an organisation it is indicative of the
control environment and tone set by management.
________________________________________________________________________________________________
______________
From:
Suiko Alston
Sent:
Monday, May 12, 2003 3:11 PM
To:
Francesca Sammarchi
Page 5
ANNEXURE A IN MY DEFENSE.txt
Subject:
RE: PC HARDDRIVE BACK UP
WILL DO HAVE ALREADY SPOKEN TO BUILDING SECURITY WRT AFTER HOURS ACCESS REPORT. ALSO REQUESTED FROM MIKE
A REGULAR LISTING OF ALL JOBS RUN ON THE MF, BY WHOM, WHAT pm OF DAY, DAY OF WEEK ETC ETC
-----Original Message----From:
Francesca Sammarchi
Sent:
Monday, May 12, 2003 2:43 PM
To:
Suiko Alston
Subject:
RE: PC HARDDRIVE BACK UP
Thanks. You now need to start getting tough on the time he is spending in the office. Arrange
for a print out of times after 5pm where he has come into the office - he must have work done to
support this. Lets look at and then decide how to limit access.
Regards
-----Original Message----From:
Suiko Alston
Sent:
Friday, May 09, 2003 1:45 PM
To:
Francesca Sammarchi
Subject:
FW: PC HARDDRIVE BACK UP
-----Original Message----From:
Craig Godfrey
Sent:
Friday, May 09, 2003 7:03 AM
To:
Suiko Alston
Subject:
RE: PC HARDDRIVE BACK UP
Done
-----Original Message----From:
Suiko Alston
Sent:
Thursday, May 08, 2003 9:19 AM
To:
Craig Godfrey
Cc:
Francesca Sammarchi
Subject:
PC HARDDRIVE BACK UP
Importance:
High
Hi Craig
Herewith a confirmation of my verbal request to please make a back up of Shawn van der Merwe's
local harddrive on his PC.
Please let me know if you need anything else in this regard and if you could please confirm with
me once this has been done
Thanks,
--suiko
________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________
MY SECOND SUBMISSION IN JUNE 2003
RECOMMENDED FURTHER INVESTIGATION
Many of these issues overlap on the cleanup exercise
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
Reinstatements
Retrenchments
Overpayments
Recon process between finance and data
Risk Claims / MABS
Previous Contribution Data
Unexplained static data changes
Lack of any visible audit trail and operating system logs
Still no call listing from PABX system
Internal security and access
General and application controls – manual and computerised
Possible use of multiple/other people’s logons
Background checks on employees
Lifestyle assessments
Itemised listing of phone calls from home and work matched to mines and previous
Page 6
ANNEXURE A IN MY DEFENSE.txt
employees fired for fraud
·
Surety listings (Impala*)
·
Blatant inconsistencies in data submission from mines, failure to submit remittance,
adhoc schedules on paper for no reason
·
Missing/falsified/altered documentation internally and for claims process
·
Payment authorization procedures and adherence to controls
·
Inadequate segregation of duties, random management checks (10% min) and independent
verification, matching and follow up in
claims, exception reporting, payments
As far as I could get with this investigation before having to submit this report, I can say
there is more than enough reasonable suspicion to warrant further investigation. Given the facts
above, I believe Shawn van der Merwe is involved in unlawful activities contrary to the
interests of the business and the members of this Fund. With regards to the possible involvement
of other employees internally, for prudence sake I have not given specific names, but what I
have seen so far indicates that this is happening more likely than not. This may include people
in key positions in other departments. My reasons for saying so are that collusion between such
parties would be necessary to bypass procedures and controls to cover up fraud and corruption,
in which case it could/would go undetected for a long period of time. There are just too many
inconsistencies and irregularities, which, although they might not be conclusive standalone
evidence, could not have passed unnoticed unless there was some degree of collusion. I can’t be
sure of the extent at this stage and as I have not been able to investigate further I can’t
quantify the financial impact for the business. Nonetheless, I feel it my duty to state that all
indications are that the fraud and theft being committed in this fund is a more extensive than
one would like to think. I could not even begin to look into the weaknesses within the
admin/claims sections, but I admonish the reader to further investigate these matters - in
whichever way you deem fit. Be aware of the fact that for three years the auditors have not even
come to Data. Based on my previous experience in forensic investigations, a normal forensic
investigator, and even an EDP auditor may overlook several systems specific issues due to a lack
of technical expertise. Having said that, even though a concerted effort on my part to any
investigation is effectively over, I would like to offer my input and assistance at any stage
with any further investigations involving information/system/data issues. Investigators will be
capable of finding any possible fraud in our admin/processing system, but their ability to
detect electronic/computer fraud will be restricted by their limited practical IT knowledge.
Considering our current system infrastructure and operating environment, internal control
systems and inherent quality of the data, electronic fraud is one of the greatest risk areas in
the business.
My intention was and is never to be the bearer of doom and gloom, but I could not be considered
blameless as long as management was not made fully aware of the reality of the environmental
opportunities to commit fraud on such a large scale. As regards the definition of my function
and further to what was agreed upon between us earlier this week, from Monday I will continue
with the data cleanup as per your instructions. I will, however, place more emphasis on
concurrently implementing the framework of internal control objectives within the scope of the
cleanup exercise as a matter of priority with the end of data integrity in mind. In presenting
these findings to you I hope that I have discharged the onus I believe rests on me as
Information Specialist and trust that whatever actions you may/may not chose to take from here
forward will be in the best interests of all concerned. Thanking you for your patience.
--end
________________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________
REFUSAL TO COOPERATE WITH FORENSIC INVESTIGATORS
Please contact Inspector Goosen at the Commercial Crime Unit in Germiston 083 5230779. He was
the only independent forensic investigator I had any contact with.After submitting this report,
I was instructed by Francesca not to continue with the forensic investigations in any way or
form. As you can see from my submission this I duly did. It was not 'unwillingness to
cooperate'. Inspector Goosen will tell you that he has been battling to get what he has
requested from SNRFS for frauds which occurred several years ago already. It was hardly possible
to do anything once I had handed all the original evidence in.
With respect to Mr Riaan Moolman, the forensic investigator for the Momentum Group - after
initially seeing him in June in Centurion, he was unavailable due to another case and came to
see me in November 2003 where he indicated that he was finishing off other work, and then going
on leave for a week after which he would contact me to pick up the investigation. Following
direct instructions, I had not persued any further investigations into fraud. The next time he
contacted me was when I was in the Station Captain's Office on 11 November 2003, after speaking
to Ann Weisz. I subsequently tried to contact Mr Moolman, but for some reason he never answered
my calls or returned my messages.
My logic was as follows :
If you have no resources or budget and cant skill people and cannot make significant changes,
then your only option is to try and implement proper audit controls in the current system. If
Page 7
ANNEXURE A IN MY DEFENSE.txt
one has a bucket with holes in, the water will continue to pour out of those holes unless you
plug them somehow.
________________________________________________________________________________________________
________
From:
Suiko Alston
Sent:
Wednesday, July 30, 2003 1:29 PM
To:
Francesca Sammarchi
Cc:
Jayna Pancham
Subject:
WORK PLAN
Hi Fran
Attached please find the workplan for the next two months cleanup as per your scope defintion.
Please let me know if there is something I have omitted or if you have any questions or would
like any changes. I am drawing up a list of the nice to haves / not 100% priority so that we can
evaluate and analyse potential added value to the business and action further items based on
that.
On Monday I will provide you with a matrix detailing :
INPUT
PROCESSING
VALID
xxxx
xxxxxxxetcetc
ACCURATE
xxxx
xxxxxxx
COMPLETE
xxxx
xxxxxx
OUTPUT
This will identify for you per functional area (I, P, O) the specific manual/additional controls
which are being implemented to ensure that the required internal control and audit objectives
are met.
Kind regards,
--suiko
________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________
SYSTEM SECURITY
________________________________________________________________________________________________
________
-----Original Message----From:
Suiko Alston
Sent:
12 August 2003 03:01
To:
Mike Hops
Cc:
Jayna Pancham; Hafeez Rahman; Colette Steeneveldt
Subject:
MAINFRAME USERIDS - SECURITY
Importance:
High
Hi Mike
The list of all userids on the mainframe that you supplied me with excludes the following
people. Could you please provide me with their userids ?
Sagren Pillay
Beulah Variawa
Daniel Mathe
Also, the list includes the following people who are not at MW - kindly confirm that these are
removed or deactivated/updated (I assume the list was generated in the last month as it includes
Jayna) . Several have authorisation access, which is a security risk as you are aware.
Thulani Madlala
Jude Ram
John Jacobs
Makhosazana Mazibuko
Natsayi Sibanda ?
Thato Ngwenya ?
Elroy Augustine
Glenda Ndlovu ?
Theresia Padu ?
Page 8
ANNEXURE A IN MY DEFENSE.txt
Barry Redford
Suiko
________________________________________________________________________________________________
_______
-----Original Message----From:
Mike Hops
Sent:
Tuesday, August 12, 2003 5:04 PM
To:
Suiko Alston
Cc:
Jayna Pancham; Hafeez Rahman; Colette Steeneveldt
Subject:
RE: MAINFRAME USERIDS - SECURITY
Give me those people's U-numbers and I can check for you. Also please note that we need to be
notified when a person leaves so that we can remove or suspend them. Most of them have been
suspended and thus cannot get into the system (but that is only through Colette and I's
pro-activeness).
I deliberately did not give you Hafeez's staff's access and U-numbers - please speak to him
about what you need it for.
________________________________________________________________________________________________
_______
From:
Suiko Alston
Sent:
12 August 2003 03:25 PM
To:
Francesca Sammarchi
Subject:
FW: MAINFRAME USERIDS - SECURITY
Importance:
High
Follow Up Flag: Follow up
Flag Status:
Flagged
Fran
May I propose that you please request, as a matter of urgency for security reasons, that
employees transferred internally out of Mineworkers to other business areas have their system
access modified / removed accordingly.
Suiko
________________________________________________________________________________________________
________
From:
Suiko Alston
Sent:
Tuesday, August 12, 2003 6:04 PM
To:
Jayna Pancham; Hafeez Rahman; Mike Hops
Cc:
Francesca Sammarchi
Subject:
FW: MAINFRAME USERIDS - SECURITY
Knowledge alone of a user id cannot be a security breach. My team cannot run reinstatements on
the mainframe without the userid from finance, and Beulah refuses to give hers to anybody. In
addition, it seems the paper source documentation for reinstatements is also not reliable. Is a
signature on paper somehow less damning than a userid ? Its only an electronic version of the
same thing for control and verification purposes. This is a check for reinstatements, namely the
person in Finance who oks it. The system does not allow one to reinstate without the user id. It
doesnt mean anyone can use your id just because they know it. Its exactly like me saying I can
logon as you onto the network because I know your logon is mikeh, or hafeezr. The password is
the security. (Even though the audit trail is sadly lacking) The logon is just an input
parameter required by the system to run the job as proof of the check by Finance. I find it
questionable that, as Information Specialist and in charge of Data (system security being
something I am required to investigate and improve), I am simply denied knowledge of key people
in Finance's logons. If its a problem with the logistics of the process then we need to change
the way it works sooner rather than later, because this is not acceptable. I am not indicting
anyone so please excuse my ignorance, but can somebody please explain why is this such an issue
when it shouldn't be ?
________________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________
Page 9
ANNEXURE A IN MY DEFENSE.txt
AUDIT TRAILS, CONTROLS, OPERATING SYSTEM LOGS
-----Original Message----From:
Suiko Alston
Sent:
04 July 2003 09:29
To:
Mike Hops
Subject:
MF operating system logs
Hi Mike
Could you please ask Angela to organise the logs of the SLCEP jobs run since Nov last year if
possible ? Not too sure how big it is, ideally should check from July last year but this should
suffice.
Thanks
S :)
PS Thanks for Emp xls
From:
Mike Hops
Sent:
Friday, July 04, 2003 10:07 AM
To:
Suiko Alston
Subject:
RE: MF operating system logs
Hi Angela
Can you please do this as far back as you can possibly go.
Regards
Mike
________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________
From:
Mike Hops
Sent:
Thursday, July 10, 2003 5:06 PM
To:
Suiko Alston
Subject:
UCC7
Follow Up Flag: Follow up
Flag Status:
Flagged
Hi Suiko
Please see file F:\mwpf\Download\UCC7DATA.TXT. Shawn's U number is U227799. A program will
append to this file every night. Unfortunately we could not see who ran what jobs more than a
couple of days ago as a backup is not kept of this.
Regards
Mike
email: [email protected]
Tel No: +27 (0)11 491 6071
---------------------------------------------------------------Confidentiality Warning
=======================
The contents of this message and any attachments are intended solely for the addressee's use and
may be legally privileged and/or confidential. If you are not the addressee indicated in this
message, any retention, distribution, copying or use of this message is strictly prohibited. If
you received this message in error, kindly notify the sender immediately by reply e-mail and
then destroy the message and any copies thereof. The content and any views expressed therein
are, unless otherwise stated, the views of the author and not those of the company or any of its
management or directors.
Whilst all reasonable steps are taken to ensure the accuracy and integrity of information
transmitted, the company does not accept responsibility for any corruption of the information or
data or breach of confidentiality as a result of electronic submission.
When addressed to the Momentum Employee Benefits clients any opinion or advice contained in this
e-mail is subject to the terms and conditions expressed in any applicable terms of business.
________________________________________________________________________________________________
________
CONTRIBUTIONS
I was told by the data team that in the past, members who did not contribute the full/correct
amount for MABS had their contributions towards MABS zerorised on the system. Advised records
without contributions were also deleted. (see below)
Page 10
ANNEXURE A IN MY DEFENSE.txt
From:
Patsy Ferreira
Sent:
Friday, January 25, 2002 11:53 AM
To:
Claudia Magano; Grace Mazibuko; Abie Moloi; Craig Adams; Kemmone Khutswane; Mwpfdata
Cc:
Angela Walker
Subject:
advised records without contributions.
Hi All
Angela has confirmed that they will be running a prgm tonight to delete these records from our
system.
Thanks
E-mail disclaimer
Confidentiality Warning
=======================
The contents of this message and any attachments are intended solely for the addressee's use and
may be legally privileged and/or confidential. If you are not the addressee indicated in this
message, any retention, distribution, copying or use of this message is strictly prohibited. If
you received this message in error, kindly notify the sender immediately by reply e-mail and
then destroy the message and any copies thereof. The content and any views expressed therein
are, unless otherwise stated, the views of the author and not those of the company or any of its
management or directors.
Whilst all reasonable steps are taken to ensure the accuracy and integrity of information
transmitted, the company does not accept responsibility for any corruption of the information or
data or breach of confidentiality as a result of electronic submission.
When addressed to the Momentum Employee Benefits clients any opinion or advice contained in this
e-mail is subject to the terms and conditions expressed in any applicable terms of business.
________________________________________________________________________________________________
______________
As of June 2003, mines were still not contributing 6% for MABS. As such, the administrators have
set up a fix . This was manually executed by Shawn van der Merwe every month after the recon
ran. It took 1% from the contribution towards retirement and allocated it to MABS. There was a
problem in the programming logic in respect of how the job dealt with wage cycles and so for
several months in 2003 some members had the allocation done twice for one period, and some not
at all. At the time of my leaving this was still the case. (See below)
-----Original Message----From: Shawn v.d. Merwe
Sent: Friday, February 21, 2003 1:33 PM
To: Mike Hops
Cc: Francesca Sammarchi; Patsy Ferreira; Aretha Casey; Leslie Ekman
Subject: Employer Rates
Hi Mike
Please find attached a file with Employer rates as promised, see if it's okay.
Thnx
Shawn
Employer Rates
__________________________________________________________________
-----Original Message----From: Francesca Sammarchi
Sent: 25 February 2003 10:05
To: Shawn v.d. Merwe; Mike Hops
Cc: Patsy Ferreira; Aretha Casey; Leslie Ekman
Subject: RE: Employer Rates
We have now fixed the problem as it would affect the last 13 months and as I understand the this
includes the month for January 2003.
Please confirm the following:
1) What and when and how the mines are going to be communicated to re changing their
Page 11
ANNEXURE A IN MY DEFENSE.txt
contribution rate? I want to vet this documentation before this goes out. What controls will be
put in place to ensure that this happens?
2) What are our interim plans to ensure that we effect this correction for our next few loads
(until the employer has corrected their contribution rate).
3) Which employers are still making pro rata contributions ?
Regards
Fran
___________________________________________________________________
-----Original Message----From: Mike Hops
Sent: 25 February 2003 10:39
To: Francesca Sammarchi; Shawn v.d. Merwe
Cc: Patsy Ferreira; Aretha Casey; Leslie Ekman
Subject: RE: Employer Rates
Hi Fran
It is only those Jan 2003 contributions that were loaded befroe this weekend. All loads from
Monday (i.e. yesterday) must now have the employer contribution fixed as your point 2.
Mike
_____________________________________________________________
-----Original Message----From: Patsy Ferreira
Sent: 25 February 2003 11:52
To: Mike Hops; Francesca Sammarchi; Shawn v.d. Merwe
Cc: Aretha Casey; Leslie Ekman
Subject: RE: Employer Rates
Hi Mike
While we are waiting for the mines to correct the split, can you organise a program to be
written for the loading of the data for the next few months until all the data is correct. The
prgm must be able to identify when the 6% has not been allocated and correct it, if it has been
allocated, the prgm must ignore it.
Can we organise something like this or what suggestions do you have considering that we are
loading data on a daily basis.
I suggest that we email the letter to all the mines concerned. The letter will cover the pro
rating of contributions, the extra 1%allocation, the deadline of the 7th of every month for data
received etc. The email addresses for data and admin should be combined so that we are rather
over communicating than under communicating. Shawn and I will set up a control to ensure that
this is done by Friday 7 March 2003.
thanks
Patsy
_______________________________________________________________________
-----Original Message----From: Mike Hops
Sent: Tuesday, February 25, 2003 12:50 PM
To: Patsy Ferreira; Francesca Sammarchi; Shawn v.d. Merwe
Cc: Aretha Casey; Leslie Ekman
Subject: RE: Employer Rates
Hi Patsy
I am hesitant to touch the load program as it is an extremely complex program and would require
extensive testing before releasing it (minimum 2 weeks). Also it would have difficulty in
identifying whether the 6% has or has not been allocated as some mines pay in advance for
member's who are going on leave, etc.
I would prefer that we go with running the program that ran this weekend as per my earlier
email.
Please ensure that the Employer's move the extra 1% out of the Employer Contribution column and
add that amount into the MABS column. If the Employer Contribution is worked out by the ratio,
then they must still change their file to add the extra 1% amount into the MABS column - this
will enable the the salary to be calculated using the MABS premium and death section and check
the reasonableness of the salary on the system. In both scenarios, the ratio must be changed on
Page 12
ANNEXURE A IN MY DEFENSE.txt
the SD screen so that Employer O/S Contribs are calculated correctly.
Regards
Mike
____________________________________________________________________
-----Original Message----From: Francesca Sammarchi
Sent: Tuesday, February 25, 2003 12:52 PM
To: Mike Hops; Patsy Ferreira; Shawn v.d. Merwe
Cc: Aretha Casey; Leslie Ekman
Subject: RE: Employer Rates
I agree Mike - Patsy & Shawn, go ahead and implement.
___________________________________________________________________________________
From: Shawn v.d. Merwe
Sent: Friday, July 25, 2003 9:35 AM
To: Suiko Alston
Cc: mwpfdata
Subject: Contr rates - new.xls
Hi Suiko
Please find attached contribution rates as at June 2003.
Thanx
Shawn
_____________________________________________________________________
new.xls
EE
ER
MABS 06/03
AngloCoal
5.93
NewClydesdale
5.95
Arnot
5.93
AngloGold
EOHS
ETC
5.8
Ingwe
Delmas
Matla
Douglas
Koorfontein
Gloria
Khanya Lab
Optimum Coll
Hexgon
DRD
Harties
Duff Scott Hosp
Stilfontein
Blyvooruitzicht
Buffelsfontein
9.07
9.05
8.07
5
5
6
5
9.2
5
5.95
9.05
Total Contr
6
5
6
6
6
5
20
20
20
20
20
20
5
5
5
5
5
5
20
5
20
20
20
20
5
20
5
4.99
8.32
5
6.45
5.44
10.05
9.375
3.5
Goldfields
Beatrix
Driefontein
Gfts
Kloof
Medgold
7.5
Gfss
St Helena Hosp
Oryx
7.5
7.5
7.788
7.5
7.788
7.5
7.5
5.625
5.625
7.5
7.5
7.788
7.5
7.788
5
7.5
9.375
9.375
5
5
5
5
5
5
5.15
5
5
5
5
5
5
20
5.15
5
5
WAPL
5.625
9.375
5
5
20
ConsMurch
5
5
3.56
13.56
5
5.41
6
Harmony
6
Evander/Kinross
Kalahari GM
9
5.62
5
5
9.38
9
4.93
5.841
5.841
3.5
5.095
Page 13
20
20
18.25
20.83
21
20
20.09
20
20
20.577
20
20.577
20.59
20
20
Check total contr
20
Randfontein Est
Masimong
5.625
Harmony
6
St Helena 5.625
Freegold
5.625
Duiker
5.625
Affiliated Orgs
Teba Moz
5.86
Shaft Sinkers
Nufcor
Chamber of mines
Teba Ltd(Jhb)
ANNEXURE A IN MY DEFENSE.txt
5
5
Check total contr
5
20
5
20
5
20
5
20
9.375
9
9.375
9.375
5
5
5
5
9.375
6
6
20
10.14
5.93
6.24
5
9.07
5
21
5
20
6
10
5
5
20+
21
5
20
6
21
5
20
Kangra
Welgedacht
5.625
9.375
5
Springlake Colliery
5.625
9.375
Longridge Colliery - See Springlake
Savmore Colliery
5.625
9.375
ARM
5.625
9.375
5
Midvaal
5.625
9.375
5
Northam
7.5
7.5
5
5
20
20
5
20
________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________
REMITTANCE ADVICES
________________________________________________________________________________________________
________
-----Original Message----From:
Suiko Alston
Sent:
30 July 2003 08:03
To:
Mwpfdata; Coowasagren Pillay; Shawn v.d. Merwe
Cc:
Jayna Pancham; Hafeez Rahman; Isabel Almeida; Beulah Variawa; Mike Hops; Patsy Ferreira;
Labios Mothibi; Grace Mazibuko
Subject:
REMITTANCE ADVICE - MINEWORKERS
Good Morning All :o)
As part of the data cleanup, we need to sort out the recon - can you please ensure that every
single file has a remittance advice before we even do a preload. Attached, please find Sagren's
new remittance advice for all those mines not yet using/sending one. Please forward it to the
relevant people who normally submit payment.
PLEASE NOTE : if all the mandatory fields (including Salary and MABS % for Entrants, Exits, and
reconcilation between opening, entrants, exits and closing members) are not fully completed in
or the totals on remittance do not balance to the file or cash amount on CAMS, we will not
accept the remittance advice or load the data.
Please be reminded that the mines are responsible for sending the correct data and payment
information in the required format in terms of the rules of this Fund.
In addition, no more remittances will be accepted in electronic format whatsoever, but need to
be faxed through to the Finance and a register in a book kept by Sagren of exactly when a
remittance advice was received, and whon the contact person is at each point who faxed it
through with their details. I will be checking this on a daily basis as well.
I will send out an email shortly detailing further control and filing procedures.
Thanks
--suiko
Suiko Alston
Information Specialist
Southern Negotiated Retirement Fund Services
Tel: (011) 491 6197
Fax: (011) 491 6174 << File: Remittance advise.xls >>
Cell: 082 588 1164
Page 14
ANNEXURE A IN MY DEFENSE.txt
-----Original Message----From:
Coowasagren Pillay
Sent:
Wednesday, July 30, 2003 8:55
To:
Suiko Alston; Mwpfdata; Shawn
Cc:
Jayna Pancham; Hafeez Rahman;
Labios Mothibi; Grace Mazibuko
Subject:
RE: REMITTANCE ADVICE
AM
v.d. Merwe
Isabel Almeida; Beulah Variawa; Mike Hops; Patsy Ferreira;
- MINEWORKERS
Hi
Sorry ...... but when i sent all the new remittances to the mines , i /mineworkers provident
fund insisted that all remittances should be sent thru -e-mail or if no e-mail was in the mines
then a fax was to be used.
at present i get 80 % remittances by e-mail.
This system is working well in regard to time saving and faxing AND ELECTONIC PROGRESS.
Suko , Lets not change a system that took months of the educating the mines and is working well.
-----Original Message----From:
Suiko Alston
Sent:
Wednesday, July 30, 2003 11:16 AM
To:
Coowasagren Pillay; Mwpfdata
Cc:
Jayna Pancham; Hafeez Rahman; Isabel Almeida; Beulah Variawa; Shawn v.d. Merwe
Subject:
FW: REMITTANCE ADVICE - MINEWORKERS
Not a problem Sagren :o) You're right, lets rather get things working 100%.
We need to implement the following :
When a remittance advice is received, whether by fax or email, we need to know about it asap.
BOTH DATA and FINANCE need a copy of the advice. It needs to be emailed through from the mines
to yourself as well as directly to [email protected] and [email protected] effective
immediately.
Forwarding the remittance from Finance via email will not suffice - we need to verify against
multiple sources whether the information from the mines is, in fact, correct.
Before loading any data, we are implementing a check to verify that the remittance totals per
finance match the remittance as received by data, the deposit information as verfied by yourself
on CAMS, as well as the data file totals.This has to balance and will be signed off by myself
before that specific mine is allowed to be loaded.
So if you could please help me out and provide me with a copy of the list of all the contacts
(email & contact details) per mine / paypoint from whom the remittance advice
is received
With respect to new controls, kindly provide me personally with the following within 24h of
receipt before the 8th of every month
- A stamped printout of the remittance advice
- Attached a printout from CAMS showing the deposit amount into our account
This needs to be done before the data can be loaded.
In addition, it seems we are experiencing problems reconciling whereby total monies received are
being lumped together per mining house and no individual remittances for individual pay / recon
points received. This is no longer acceptable - we need a fully completed remittance per payment
made detailing the specific breakdowns for each mine included.
(Anglogold -> Vaal Reefs, Western Deep Levels)
Please dont hesitate to ask should you have any queries.
Thanks, Sagren :D
-----Original Message----From:
Francesca Sammarchi
Sent:
Wednesday, July 30, 2003 11:54 PM
To:
Suiko Alston; Coowasagren Pillay; Mwpfdata
Cc:
Jayna Pancham; Hafeez Rahman; Isabel Almeida; Beulah Variawa; Shawn v.d. Merwe
Subject:
RE: REMITTANCE ADVICE - MINEWORKERS
Have we looked at PDF files (mines must use this format to submit to us) to ensure extra leg of
security ? Hafeez, I would like us to do this please.
Page 15
ANNEXURE A IN MY DEFENSE.txt
-----Original Message----From:
Suiko Alston
Sent:
Thursday, July 31, 2003 9:29 AM
To:
Francesca Sammarchi; Hafeez Rahman
Subject:
FW: REMITTANCE ADVICE - MINEWORKERS
I have checked it out, but you need to purchase the adobe software. I am not sure whether the
mines currently have [Suiko Alston] that software. You can download a trial version allowing
you to make 5 free docs on www
Suiko Alston
Information Specialist
Southern Negotiated Retirement Fund Services
Tel: (011) 491 6197
Fax: (011) 491 6174
Cell: 082 588 1164
REMITTANCE ADVICES
From:
Francesca Sammarchi
Sent:
Friday, August 01, 2003 6:04 AM
To:
Suiko Alston; Hafeez Rahman; Edward Bouwer
Cc:
Jayna Pancham
Subject:
RE: REMITTANCE ADVICE - MINEWORKERS
Then find another way - right now anyone in the process can alter that document. Edward - do you
have any ideas ?
________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________
I was then told that I was 'stepping on Hafeez' toes' and ordered to accept Finance's verbal
confirmation that the money had been deposited as the control. (suffice to say until the merger
with MAC, there was not a single qualified CA at mineworkers). A verbal confirmation is not a
control, or a check on a control, for that matter. I know, I have passed Auditing. So why should
I be forced to be accountable for something which is a prerequisite for getting the recon to
work if it is a fundamental weakness in internal control ? There were no segregation of duties,
checks and independent reconciliations to speak of. All contribution data is loaded and kept on
the mainframe, and all payments data in Hafeez' ACCPAC system. The process between the two is a
black hole. Any suggestions I made to link the two were discarded.
________________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________
RETRENCHMENTS
-----Original Message----From:
Suiko Alston
Sent:
04 August 2003 01:15
To:
Mwpfdata; Coowasagren Pillay; Shawn v.d. Merwe; Patsy Ferreira; Grace Mazibuko
Cc:
Labios Mothibi; Shiraj Karolia; Edward Bouwer; Mike Hops; Jayna Pancham; Hafeez Rahman
Subject:
DRAFT PROCEDURE FOR RETRENCHMENTS
Good Afternoon All
Following please find the amended draft procedure for retrenchments :
As per the monthly data files, we request that the mine send a separate file for all
retrenchments done in a month (not included in the normal member contributions data)
This file needs to be accompanied by a separate remittance advice which needs to be filled in
completely and correctly.
On receipt of data and remittance, DATA will extract the totals (from the preload) and email
these to the HR officer (NOT THE PERSON SENDING THE DATA FILES THROUGH) for separate
confirmation of details
The confirmation needs to be faxed through to DATA and needs to be verified against the
retrenchment data file and remittance, and if everything matches it will be signed off and filed
by myself or the data person performing the control/librarian function before the data will be
loaded for processing and payment.
Page 16
ANNEXURE A IN MY DEFENSE.txt
Any exceptions must be followed up with the mine.
For a retrenchment exercise involving
submitted to MWPF before payment will
For a retrenchment exercise involving
claim will be initiated and paid as a
20 or less (or individual) members, a claim form must be
be processed.
more than 20 members, no claim forms are necessary and the
bulk retrenchment as is currently the case.
This will take effect from 1 September 2003. The necessary communication will take place with
the mines.
Kindly inform me of any suggestions or possible difficulties you may anticipate which I might
not be aware of so that changes can be made if necessary. I would appreciate this by the end of
tomorrow please so we can settle this and send out the final procedure by Thursday.
Thank you for your time
--suiko
:o)
From:
Grace Mazibuko
Sent:
Wednesday, August 06, 2003 2:03 PM
To:
Suiko Alston
Cc:
Labios Mothibi; Patsy Ferreira; Jayna Pancham
Subject:
RE: DRAFT PROCEDURE FOR RETRENCHMENTS
Hi Suiko,
The current processes for the retrenchment must not be changed i.e. All retrenchments must be
advised by Tape, the ones that can be paid by using claim forms is Paid up members only.
And my concern regarding sending information back to the HR officer is that it will delay
payment. If you require information to be verified by 2 different sources, you are getting it
done anyway-The time office is advising of the exit and payments (remittance)are done at a
different point.. or maybe there's another reason for sending it back to HR and you have said.
Regards,
Grace
________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________
EXCEPTION REPORTING
-----Original Message----From:
Suiko Alston
Sent:
04 August 2003 02:36
To:
Mike Hops
Cc:
Jayna Pancham; Edward Bouwer; Mwpfdata
Subject:
601 Exception Report
Hi Mike
Edward mentioned to me that its possible to get a list of all errors that the 601 detects and
how they are configured (Update Y/N, Report Y/N)
Is it possible to please organise this so that we can relook at it ? Also we will need to change
the output to be printed as well as downloaded to a file.
Thanks for your help
Suiko Alston
From:
Mike Hops
Sent:
04 August 2003 05:32 PM
To:
Suiko Alston
Subject:
RE: 601 Exception Report
>Also we will need to change the output to be printed as well as downloaded to a file.
This is going to be an incredible waste of paper (EPLDATA is a huge report sometimes of a few
hundred pages). Rather download the reports to a protected directory that cannot be altered.
________________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________
THE DATA CLEANUP
So I resigned myself to doing what I could :I extracted the membership data off the mainframe
Page 17
ANNEXURE A IN MY DEFENSE.txt
and after sending out a letter on the cleanup to various mines
-Matched all contributing members to the incoming data files on Industry Number
-Matched all paid, paid up and advised records
By means of a reductive process of set based elimination I sent the residual records to the
mines for confirmation :
-Duplicate Industry Numbers
-Paid up members
- Non contributing members
- Tape Status 40 (Exit unknown advised)
Herewith an email I sent Mrs Sarie van Staden at Randfontein after our workshop at Harmony with
respects to the data cleanup :
________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________
From:
Suiko Alston
Sent:
24 July 2003 02:32 PM
To:
'[email protected]'
[email protected]'
Cc:
Mwpfdata; Suiko Alston
Subject:
MWPF DATA ISSUES UPDATE
Hi Sarie
Just to confirm and followup on our meeting held on the 10th July :
The following people are responsible for data / exception reporting followup at the Harmony
mines :
Masimong, Harmony
Freegold
Evander
Randfontein,Elandsrand, Deelkraal
:
:
Heroldt van Biljon
:
Willem van der Walt
Alida Engelbrecht
:
Lazarus Sojane
We have extracted a list of all members with duplicate Industry numbers and will forward them to
the abovementioned respective people
for follow up in the next day
We have extracted a list of all members without locations and will forward them to the
abovementioned respective people
for follow up in the next day (in lieu of monitoring membership and distribution of statements
later this year)
We have created a list of all members with passport numbers in the incorrect format and will
forward them to the abovementioned respective people for follow up by Monday - once we confirm
with your HR which of these members are from Mozambique, the necessary system changes can be
made to prevent these members from being incorrectly taxed on with withdrawal
You raised a concern about paid up members not receiving benefit statements. Could you please
provide me with a list of these members so that I can arrange for their statements to be printed
? I am currently investigating the matter on our side to resolve this.
As agreed upon, could you please provide me with Michelle Meyer's contact details?
Thanking you kindly for your time and cooperation,
Suiko Alston
Information Specialist
Southern Negotiated Retirement Fund Services
Tel: (011) 491 6197
Fax: (011) 491 6174
Cell: 082 588 1164
________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________
FRAUD I FOUND
Musa, the HR person from Kloof phoned with a complaint of a member whom he had known personally
who had passed away and everytime his wife/family came to the Fund to claim they were told there
is no money for them, the member had already been paid as a retrenchment. I followed this up and
checked the system and got his service records from the mine. Industry No C1414106 - died 3
August 1999 in the mine hospital HIV related. I obtained his duplicate death certificate. He was
retrenched 3 months after he died. I couldnt find him anywhere on a retrenchment file. I
requested his transaction listing on his account from TEBA. As you can see, the members
retrenchment benefit was collected on Friday 12 April 2001.
Page 18
ANNEXURE A IN MY DEFENSE.txt
After reporting the matter to management, I was told by Jayna that Mike Hops had found him on a
file (which to date I still havent seen), and that the error had been corrected and the family
paid the death benefit. I was also told not to pursue the matter any further. To my
understanding, a member may not be reinstated / get paid a benefit twice unless it has been
authorised by the trustees. I informed Mr Mahlangu of the fraud. He never relayed the case to
the Trustees. Was that not his responsibility as Principal Officer ?
TEBA Account transaction listing :
Mine_No Entry_No
Book_No
Balance_Before
Date
Payment_Type Cheque_No
Amount
Time
Paypoint
Trx_Type
Ins_Com
Policy
Cashier_Id Page
Line
Acc_No
Payroll
------- ----------- ----------------- ----------- ------------------------- ------------ -------------------- ----------- ----------------------------- ------------------------ ----------- ----------- ---------------------
095
67 Jul
911831.0
559.81
7 1999 12:00AM
1
-550.00
100456
0.0
14
095
305 Aug
911831.0
9.81
5 1999 12:00AM
1
1,637.49
074719
0.0
0
1672 Aug
911831.0
1,647.30
6 1999 12:00AM
1
417.43
073228
0.0
0
0
095
1531 Aug 24 1999 12:00AM
911831.0
90
2,064.73
2.92
112839
0.0
0
0
345 09501C1414106
0 Int on Jrnl Closing
0
0
0
095
1532 Aug 24 1999 12:00AM
911831.0
92
2,064.73
-2,067.65
112906
19508.0
0
0
327 09501C1414106
0 E/L 09501C1414106
0
0
0
095
571 Oct 19 1999 12:00AM
911831.0
0
0.00
0.00
090200
0.0
0
2491 Nov 26 1999 12:00AM
9999999999.0
1
0.00
11,877.40
074523
0.0
0
095
095
******** retrenchment benefit paid to TEBA
095
2591 Nov 26 1999 12:00AM
9999999999.0
0
11,877.40
0.00
095
095
3358 Nov 30 1999 12:00AM
9999999999.0
90
11,877.40
4.48
11 Apr
1617053.0
12,251.42
103010
0.0
0
191515
0.0
0
5 2001 12:00AM
1
2.69
132327
6277190.0
0
********* money paid out by TEBA
095
12 Apr 5 2001 12:00AM
1617053.0
1
132327
6277190.0
Page 19
103
101 09501C1414106
0 19990707 101218
3
11
0
0
608 09501C1414106
0
0
0
0
964
620 09501C1414106
0
0
0
0 DAISY
0
960
703 09501C1414106
0
0
0
623 09501C1414106
0
0
0
0
1158
352 09501C1414106
0
0
0
0
0
344 09501C1414106
0
0
0
0
0
342 09501C1414106
0
0
0
0
0
0
323 09501C1414106
12,254.11
095
13
1617053.0
-2.02
4
1617053.0
0.00
6
1617053.0
0.00
5
1617053.0
0.00
095
095
095
Apr
Apr
5
6
Apr 17
Sep
4
ANNEXURE A IN MY DEFENSE.txt
-12,252.09
0
0
2001 12:00AM
132327
0
0.0
-2.02
0
0
2001 12:00AM
111721
0
0.0
0.00
0
0
2001 12:00AM
094742
0
0.0
0.00
0
0
2001 12:00AM
111527
0
0.0
0.00
0
0
0
0
347 09501C1414106
0
0
703 09501C1414106
0
0
703 09501C1414106
0
0
703 09501C1414106
0
0
0
0
0
0 DAISY
0
0 DAISY
0
0 ELIZE
________________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________
I had arranged a data swap with Mr Frikkie Shroeder of MPF Management Services (Sentinel
Retirement Fund) so that we could confirm our paid up membership. Shawn van der Merwe had
informed me that hundreds of paid up members had died and never received their Provident Fund
benefits.
I held two meetings with TEBA to address the cleanup issues.
Herewith the agenda I drew up for the first meeting :
________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________
MINEWORKERS PROVIDENT FUND
AGENDA FOR THE ADMINISTRATION MEETING
Date:
07 August 2003
Time:
T.B.A.
Venue:
M.W.P.F. – ADMIN. ROOM
Item No.
1.
Item
Introduction
Responsibility
J.P.
Items to be discussed
2.
Mozambican Issue – Non Payment of benefit to Mozambican Members.
S.K + NUM REP.
3.
Authorization Letter from the Fund. Releasing of benefits from Teba to the
Beneficiaries. S.K
4.
Location listing for Deceased Members. S.K
5.
Unclaimed Monies in Teba Accounts.
S.A
6.
Locating of Death Certificates. – (Mozambican, Lesotho & Swaziland)
S.K
7.
Teba Process – Payment from Teba to Member/Beneficiary. J.P
8.
Data Swop.
S.A
9.
Industry No
S.A.
10.
1.Duplication of Industry No.
2.Re-Allocation of Industry No
3.Collieries.
4.Two Miners using one Industry No.
5.Changes in Industry No.
S.A
Teba Branch Codes
S.A
Shawn van der Merwe accompanied me to my second meeting at TEBA with Gerhard Human and Wendy
Kraemer, the morning my laptop was confiscated.
Subsequent to leaving Lekana, I contacted Wendy to request the Modulus 11 check formula for
validating the Industry Numbers.
________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________
From: [email protected]
Subject: Industry Numbers
Date: Tue, 24 Feb 2004 10:15:33 +0200
Page 20
ANNEXURE A IN MY DEFENSE.txt
To: [email protected]
Hi Suiko,
As per Mrs W Kraemer's request, I have found the below explanation of the Modulus-11 on the
internet; further more I have attached a file with sample code of how our application developers
code the modulus check.
The coding is done using Delphi.
* Calculations of modulus 11 check digits:
*
*
Assigned weighted checking factor
base
*
to each digits position of basic
weight
*
code number starting with units
*
position of number and progressing
*
to most significant digit
*
*
Weight used is:
*
765432765432765432765432765432765432 etc.
*
*
Multiply each digit of the basic
*
code number by its weighted checking
*
factor, and add the products
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Divide Sum of products by 11
*
*
Subtract remainder from 11
*
difference is check digit
*
*
Result : 943457842 3
*
9 4 3 4 5 7 8 4 2
4 3 2 7 6 5 4 3 2
36
12
6
28
30
35
32
12
4
Sum = 195
195 % 11 = 17 plus remainder of 8
11 - 8 = 3
Í
Thando
TEBA Limited
Tel: +27 11 353 6067
Fax: +27 11 493 2029
email: [email protected]
"Whether you think, you can or cannot, you are right"
File: Modulus11.txt (765bytes)
________________________________________________________________________________________________
______
Hi Wendy/Thando
How are you doing?
I apologise for being a pain but it is imperative that I get this right :
Here is the Delphi code forwarded to me by Thando. I have looked at the logic and tried
many variations in great detail but am getting no joy. Where am I going wrong? Please could you
help or refer this to someone who can ? I dont think it's such a train smash, because the logic
is fairly simple, if I am applying it correctly. I have previously coded the Modulus 10 check
for ID Numbers, so its not foreign to me.I have also looked extensively on the www for all
variations of methods in calcuation.
However, I am using the Delphi code as programmed on your system :
Your code as forwarded
************************************************************************
function TTebaNumber.CheckModulus11: Boolean;
Page 21
ANNEXURE A IN MY DEFENSE.txt
var CPref : String; weight : array[1..6] of Integer; Pref, i, n : Integer;
begin
weight[1] := 8;
weight[2] := 4;
weight[3] := 6;
weight[4] := 3;
weight[5] := 5;
weight[6] := 2;
Result:=False;
CPref := copy(FIndustryNo,1,1);
If ((Ord(CPref[1]) >= Ord('A')) and (Ord(CPref[1]) <= Ord('Z'))) then
begin
CPref := Copy(FIndustryNo,2,7);
try
StrToInt(cpref);
result := true;
except
exit;
end;
end;
CPref:=Copy(FIndustryNo,1,1);
Pref:=Ord(CPref[1]);
n:= (Pref-65)*7;
for i := 2 to 7 do
n:=n+(StrToInt(Copy(FIndustryNo,i,1)) * weight[i-1]);
n:= n mod 11;
i := StrToInt(Copy(FIndustryNo,8,1));
result := (n = i);
end;
********************************************************************
EXAMPLE
Here is the application your program logic - my comments/calculations are in red.
Please help me out as to where I am going wrong, because days later
after trying various DR and DSR methods for modulus 11 check, including
weighting and not weighting the alpha character, nothing works)
Have tried assigning weights from right to left as well
(from least to most significant digit) as is normally done but no joy.
Ord function returns the value A=1, B=2, C=3-> Z=26 etc
Your declared variables are :
CPref (String,
Weight (Array)
weight[1] :=
weight[3] :=
weight[5] :=
ie character data type)
of integer type with the following values :
8;
weight[2] := 4;
6;
weight[4] := 3;
5;
weight[6] := 2;
Pref, i, n : integer types
Assume Industry Number is C1414106
POSN
DIGIT
WGHT
1
C
2
1
1
3
4
8
4
1
4
5
4
6
6
1
3
7
0
5
8
6
2
*
* check digit in position 8
Position 1 alpha character just gets numeric value,
its not weighted according to your code)
Position 8 is the check digit.
Your declared variables are :
CPref (String, ie character data type)
Weight (Array) of integer type with the following values :
weight[1] := 8;
weight[2] := 4;
weight[3] := 6;
weight[4] := 3;
weight[5] := 5;
weight[6] := 2;
Pref, i, n : integer types
CPref := copy(FIndustryNo,1,1);
Page 22
ANNEXURE A IN MY DEFENSE.txt
Reads first alpha character of the industry number into variable
If the numeric equivalent is between 1 - 26 (incl) ie A-Z, then continue
If ((Ord(CPref[1]) >= Ord('A')) and (Ord(CPref[1]) <= Ord('Z'))) then
begin
If the numeric equivalent of the 1st character is between 1 and 26 (inclusive) begin :
CPref := Copy(FIndustryNo,2,7);
Read the digits starting from position 2 for a length of 7 'places' into
character variable Cpref
so
CPref = '1414106'
try
StrToInt(cpref);
result := true;
***** IF they're all numbers (ie converted to integer
from string), the result variable is assigned the value of true
except
exit;
end;
end;
CPref:=Copy(FIndustryNo,1,1);
**** CPref allocated first alpha value character,
C per the Industry# example
Pref:=Ord(CPref[1]);
*** Pref (Integer variable allocated numeric equivalent of alpha character,
as you indicated Wendy A=1, B=2 etc. so in this case it would be 3
n:= (Pref-65)*7;
so
n = (3-65)*7
n = -434
for i := 2 to 7 do
n:=n+(StrToInt(Copy(FIndustryNo,i,1)) * weight[i-1]);
**** so this is an incremental loop for
i =
n
n
n
n
n
2
=
=
=
=
=
n + (Numeric digit in position i for a length of 1) X Weight[i - 1]
-434 + (1 * weight[2-1])
-434 + (1 * 8)
ie Weight[1] array value
-434 + 8
-426
i =
n
n
n
n
n
3
=
=
=
=
=
n + (Numeric digit in position i for a length of 1) X Weight[i - 1]
-426 + (4 * weight[3-1])
-426 + (4 * 4)
ie Weight[2] array value
-426 + 16
-410
i =
n
n
n
n
n
4
=
=
=
=
=
n + (Numeric digit in position i for a length of 1) X Weight[i - 1]
-410 + (1 * weight[4-1])
-410 + (1 * 6)
ie Weight[3] array value
-410 + 6
-404
Page 23
ANNEXURE A IN MY DEFENSE.txt
i =
n
n
n
n
n
5
=
=
=
=
=
n + (Numeric digit in position i for a length of 1) X Weight[i - 1]
-404 + (4 * weight[5-1])
-404 + (4 * 3)
ie Weight[4] array value
-404 + 12
-392
i =
n
n
n
n
n
6
=
=
=
=
=
n + (Numeric digit in position i for a length of 1) X Weight[i - 1]
-392 + (1 * weight[6-1])
-392 + (1 * 5)
ie Weight[5] array value
-392 + 5
-387
i =
n
n
n
n
n
7
=
=
=
=
=
n + (Numeric digit in position i for a length of 1) X Weight[i - 1]
-387 + (0 * weight[7-1])
-387 + (0 * 2)
ie Weight[6] array value
-387 + 0
-387
**** end of loop
n:= n mod 11;
calculate this as :
-387\11
=-35.18
=> 35 x 11 = 385
Difference between 387 - 385 = 2
Therefore -387 MOD 11 = 2
so n is equal to 2
i := StrToInt(Copy(FIndustryNo,8,1));
This allocates Variable i = Convert Last digit (ie position 8 which
is check digit) of Industry Number to Integer type
so in this example i would be 6.
This does not equal 2, neither does 11 - 2 = the check digit (6)
result := (n = i);
end;
So this would not be a valid Industry Number ?
I believe it is (cant be sure, because I dont know if I am
calculating the check correctly)
Please help. I really appreciate your and Thando’s effort.
Thank you.
Look forward to hearing from you.
--Suiko
;o)
084 8086270
[email protected]
________________________________________________________________________________________________
________
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Industry Numbers
Date: Thu, 26 Feb 2004 07:28:56 +0200
To: "Suiko Alston" <[email protected]>
[email protected]>
Cc: [email protected]
Hi Suiko Please remember the alpha character also has a value that is to be calculated in the
Page 24
ANNEXURE A IN MY DEFENSE.txt
modulas 11 check. i.e. A =1
B=2
C=3
and so on
If you do not use the alpha in your check it will not be a valid Industry Number.
The only letters we agreed not to use as alpha prefixes are "O", "U", "E", "I", "Q", "V", "L"
and "Y"
A = JHB
B= JHB, Carl, Klerks, Welkom and Rustenburg (All areas)
C= Carletonville
D= Not yet used
F= Seniors (Cat 9 and above)
G= All areas
H= All areas
J= Not yet used
K= Klerksdorp
M=Not yet used
N=Not yet used
P= Seniors
R= Rustenburg
S= Not yet used
T= Temporary Numbers
W= Welkom
X= Not yet used
Z= All areas
I hope this helps
Regards
Wendy Kraemer
Manager Business Support ServicesTel (27 11) 353 6059
________________________________________________________________________________________________
______
Note in Mrs Kraemers email that the letter M is as of yet unallocated . There are literally
thousands of members on the system dating back several years who have Industry Numbers beginning
with an M. I also find it questionable that Industry Numbers are allocated by TEBA, but on our
system Industry numbers increase sequentially with Employee Numbers at certain mines.
The modulus 11 check for Industry Number is detailed in a business spec on the Reconciliation
process signed off by Francesca Sammarchi. On closer inspection I saw that the formulas to
verify Industry Number as given by TEBA and MWPF are completely different. I have received no
reply from TEBA to my email above, needless to say.
________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________
UNCLAIMED BENEFITS
From:
Patsy Ferreira
Sent:
08 July 2003 05:02 PM
To:
Grace Mazibuko
Cc:
Suiko Alston; Shiraj Karolia; Jayna Pancham
Subject:
Paying unclaimed benefits
Hi Grace
As per our discussion confirmation that you and your team are processing the outstanding claims and paying them to
Teba Cash.
Regards
Patsy
________________________________________________________________________________________________
______
ESTABLISHING FUND MEMBERSHIP
I called the fund actuary at Alexander Forbes to ascertain from him what he understood the
membership of the Fund to be.
He indicated a figure of +-250 000. I was subsequently forbidden to contact Mr Henderson again.
Currently, the membership of the fund is 170 000. I dont know how, because when I left the
duplicate / dormant records were all still there. It is also interesting that admin fees, until
a year or two ago, had always been charged based on the number of members. So because a member
cant read or write, he's paying admin fees for 10 records on the system.
As the Provident Fund would be one 'leg' of the employee benefit transaction, in terms of audit
procedure one should then verify against external sources of evidence (ie the employer records)
as the data at the administrator is unreliable as a result of a lack of internal controls. After
leaving Lekana, I embarked on an exercise whereby I tried to match the number of employees with
what was disclosed in the Annual Reports as well as Form 20F submissions to the SEC for
Goldfields, DRD, Harmony and Anglogold. Even there I found a significant discrepancies in the
numbers across the same periods- across permanent employees, contractors and subcontractors for
Page 25
ANNEXURE A IN MY DEFENSE.txt
the same period. I then went and got statistics on the labour force from the Chamber of Mines,
Statistics SA, Dept. of Labour and the DME. On visiting the Dept Minerals and Energy in Pretoria
and requesting the number of employees per operation / shaft in South Africa, I was told by Mr
Roux, the head statistician, that this information was strictly confidential as per instruction
from the mines. I researched in the press. For Anglogold for the same period, articles quoted
employee numbers ranging from 45000 to 55000 to even 138000 in one report, something probably
closer to the truth.
So if one cannot even verify at the employer, how could I possibly be expected to do it from the
position I found myself in at the Provident Fund ?
It is interesting to note that all submissions and statistics (which are required from the mines
in terms of submissions of DME 112 and 115 forms) all concur more or less. The only one which
varies was a SADA Labour Force Survey done in 2000 which statistically sampled and then
projected the attributes onto the population as a whole. This indicates the number of people
employed in the mining industry in South Africa in 2000 to be in excess of 490 000, probably
closer to the truth. It is also interesting that despite all the downsizing and retrenchments,
the net size of the labour force still grew by 2.4% in 2002.
________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________
MY THIRD SUBMISSION IN AUGUST 2003
My work and ability to deliver upon deadlines has been critically commented upon by you on a
number of occasions. These should however be reviewed in the light of the enormity of the task
actually expected of me. Furthermore, the lack of your input in terms of what is realistically
achievable, what is specifically required of me, how these are to be achieved and physically
creating the appropriate structures to empower me to appropriate the necessary resources to
achieve my objectives has not been forthcoming in any meaningful way. Instead, you have chosen
to focus on meaningless and unrealistic deadlines, continually demanding additional
investigations and prove minimal feedback or assistance when you have reviewed some of the work
that I have already undertaken.
In conclusion, in light of the scale of the problems associated with the MWPF records, the need
to address the data clean-up within the context of existing systems shortcomings and
inadequacies, the possibility of fraudulent activity and the need for a re-evaluation of the
overall data processing environment, it is my considered opinion that if we are to make any real
and meaningful progress towards achieving any of the stated objectives that we sit down and
realistically plan our options and how we hope to achieve that which we originally hoped to
________________________________________________________________________________________________
______________
A few days after submitting my third and final submission to Francesca and Ann Weisz, my laptop
was confiscated. ( I was told that a business analyst required one urgently) Francesca left a
handwritten note on my desk on 27 August 2003. I have copies of all of this should you require
it, it's just too big to send via email. I still have no idea what a stiffie rom is. I had
indicated to Jayna that I had backed my work up onto CD. I was then instructed that I should
bring all my backups to be kept in the safe at the office - 'to protect my credibility'.
Hi Suiko
Where is the stiffie rom for the laptop - wasnt returned when you gave the laptop back ? Your
computer should be here today; they couldn't release it until they had set up the laptop - this
took some time as you formatted it! So hence the delay. Jayna advised that you will drop off 4
CDs this morning - I am in.
Fran
________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________
Francesca Sammarchi and Jayna Pancham had discussed it, and between those two IT gurus, they
decided that it was not necessary for me to have a laptop for me to do my job, and I received an
old Pentium II PC . Hardly sufficient. Francesca later 'consoled' me by saying that there was no
money left in the budget (a data cleanup of such importance and urgency could not warrant
additional expenditure of R14 000 - hard to believe) and she would get me one as soon as the
opportunity availed itself.
I was without a PC for several days (apparently due to the fact that I had reformatted the
laptop harddrive beforehand - I dont see how the two are related -or why it had to be returned
directly to Francesca, and not the IT support desk as in normal organisations). The IT desk
usually reformats the hard drive and sets the machine up for a new user with network logons,
access etc. So I would have been doing the IT support person a favour by reformatting the hard
drive - less for him to do. On both occassions that I was given old machines to work on, neither
had been reformatted or cleaned up. In fact the first machine I got on starting employment
belonged to Jude Ram, one of the data team members who had absconded a month before I arrived. I
Page 26
ANNEXURE A IN MY DEFENSE.txt
went through his backups of all the work done in Data for the previous two years because that
was my job, and hence my current levels of understanding of what is going on. Not due to any
fault or dubious behaviour on my part such as snooping around accessing confidential
information, but perhaps rather (due to their own detriment ) Lekana being careless in not
tidying up.
I was not prepared to put my name to this task which I knew was humanly impossible in the given
time frames. I would conveniently be
the next scapegoat and another 'failure' in sorting out the data. Yet another delay would have
the net effect of allowing any fraud which was being perpetrated to continue unabated. In an
informal counselling session just before I left, I explicitly told both Jayna and Fran that I
would not be in any way invloved with Benefit Statements as I was aware that many members were a
few months short on contributions as a result of the MABS problem. I said that I did not want my
name associated with a company that was unethical and where things were happening that were not
right.
________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________
ANGLOGOLD WORKSHOP
>
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-----Original Message----From: Jayna Pancham
Sent: 20 August 2003 04:10
To: Shiraj Karolia; Suiko Alston
Subject: Admin Workshop :Anglogold
Please note that this meeeting has been provisionally set.The details are
as follows:
Date : 01.04.2003
Time : 10h00
Venue: West Wits,Carltonville
Ben is to forward agenda items,no, of attendees and confirmation of the
above shortly.
In the interim please ensure that all the bits are being put together.
Regards
Jayna
____________________________________________________________________________________
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-----Original Message----From: Jayna Pancham
Sent: 28 August 2003 12:38
To: Suiko Alston
Subject: FW: Admin Workshop :Anglo gold
Suiko
As per the email detailed below, you were made aware of the new date for
the workshop to be held with Anglo gold on the 20.08.2003.The date of the
workshop is the 01.09.2003 and not 01.04.2003 as indicated on the email.
This was verbally advised.
To date the information required from yourself for inclusion in the agenda
is not ready.
I am aware that you were without access to a computer for approximately 2
days during this week.
However, this workshop was initially scheduled for the 13.08.2003.Hence
the information required should have been readily available for inclusion
in the agenda.
Shiraj has also requested this information from you on various occasions.
With you being booked off work has now puts us in a bit of a predicament
ito getting the agendas completed accurately and timeously.
Page 27
ANNEXURE A IN MY DEFENSE.txt
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This is neither professional nor the manner in which we want to administer
this scheme.
Regards
Jayna
__________________________________________________________________________________________
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-----Original Message----From: Suiko Alston
Sent: 28 August 2003 05:07
To: Jayna Pancham
Subject: RE: Admin Workshop :Anglo gold
Hi Jayna
To set matters straight, the work WAS all completed for the agenda, infact
Shiraj and I are binding the first one as we speak. It was all completed
and sitting in f:\DATA\ANGLO, as I told you on the phone earlier. The only
thing that had to be typed up was the mass retrenchments letter as Patsy
dealt with that for the previous meeting. That was on my laptop, suffice
to say. Please confirm your facts before accusing me of being
unprofessional just because you dont know every detail of what I do, how
long and when you think it should take me to do and where it is. Not
forgetting the level of responsibility of my work, I dont believe it is
called for that you treat me like a child. In addition, as one of the
'most expensive resources at mineworkers', I dont believe it's cost
effective use of company funds that I spend hours binding agendas, so
please find one for your perusal. Should this be to your satisfaction, I
trust you will arrange for someone suitable to bind the other 20.
I am going home now, as I have infact been booked off sick for two days see certificate on your desk.
________________________________________________________________________________________________
__
I was then told by Francesca that she had cancelled my attendance of the data cleanup meeting
scheduled at Anglo, and that I was to stay in the office to 'concentrate on the data cleanup'.
More than this I could not do - my hands were tied. We moved one floor up, and I was put in a
cubicle on my own facing the wall, isolated from the rest of the data team. By then my
management responsibilities had been removed.Frans Malhangu, Ann Weisz, Dave Steere or Francesca
Sammarchi made their displeasure most obvious to the point that none of them even greeted me
after that. In a professional environment, where people have differences of opinion, it is well
mannered, polite and costs you nothing to say hello and goodbye or please and thank you. Well
that's how I was brought up. Needless to say the work environment was no longer pleasant for me.
I was instructed to fill in timesheets (something that no one else in Data was required to do).
I was also informed by facilities that management had requested the report of my access in and
out of the building for the last two months.
UNAUTHORISED ABSENCES FROM THE OFFICE
________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________
From:
Suiko Alston
Sent:
Thursday, May 08, 2003 11:00 AM
To:
Francesca Sammarchi
Subject:
DENTIST
Hi Fran
Just to let you know I'll be out this pm as I have a dentist's appointment @ 2pm in Pretoria for
a root canal :p
Have a meeting tomorrow am with Ed, Elizabeth, Mike and Labios to clarify issues and finalise
details wrt www's - will give you feedback by the end of tomorrow
Ta
--suiko
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ANNEXURE A IN MY DEFENSE.txt
________________________________________________________________________________________________
_______
-----Original Message----From:
Suiko Alston
Sent:
Monday, July 21, 2003 8:14 AM
To:
Francesca Sammarchi; Jayna Pancham; Mwpfdata; Shiraj Karolia; Patsy Ferreira
Subject:
Tuesday PM
Good Morning All
Just to let everybody know : I wont be in tomorrow afternoon, I have an appointment for my teeth
at the specialist at 13H30.
Thank you,
--Suiko
________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________
From: Francesca Sammarchi
Sent:
Tuesday, July 22, 2003 10:59 AM
To:
Suiko Alston
Cc:
Jayna Pancham
Subject:
RE: Tuesday PM
Where were you this morning ?
________________________________________________________________________________________________
______________
-----Original Message----From:
Suiko Alston
Sent:
22 July 2003 05:47
To:
Aretha Casey
Cc:
Jayna Pancham; Francesca Sammarchi; Cheryl Harwood
Subject:
FW: Tuesday PM
Hi there
Aretha, would you mind please just confirming that I did in fact call in this morning at 9am as
I couldnt get hold of Jayna and that I asked you to
please communicate to her as well as data that I wouldnt be coming in this morning due to severe
cramps.I do have a certificate from the prosthodontist iro my root canals this afternoon.
Fran, I am sorry for creating any misunderstandings from my side - your out of office autoreply
explicitly stated that you would be on leave from 15th to 22nd July, implying that you would
only return to work on the 23rd, hence my communication to Jayna in your absence.
Apologies, wasnt my intention to inconvenience anyone.
I will see you all tomorrow morning and hopefully I've stopped drooling by then.
--Suiko
________________________________________________________________________________________________
______________
From:
Aretha Casey
Sent:
Wednesday, July 23, 2003 8:21 AM
To:
Suiko Alston
Cc:
Jayna Pancham; Francesca Sammarchi; Cheryl Harwood
Subject:
RE: Tuesday PM
Hi there,
I did receive a call from Suiko, yesterday morning and was supposed to convey the message to
Jana and Patsy. I managed to convey the message to Patsy after the Ops meeting, but could not
get hold of Jana.
When Jana returned to her office (midday), I conveyed the message to her and she advised me that
she'll inform Fran.
Trusting the above to be in order.
Aretha
________________________________________________________________________________________________
______
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ANNEXURE A IN MY DEFENSE.txt
I have 10 medical certificates with respect to absences from the office. Feel free to contact
me should you wish copies. Lekana has the copies on file. I had a root canal which became
infected and needed surgery to remove the tooth. Hence the sick leave. Certainly in the last
week or two I wasnt in the office that much. What was I supposed to do? I had been to see my
lawyer with respects to filling in timesheets. I had also been to the FSB earlier that week,
funnily enough.
________________________________________________________________________________________________
_______
INSUBORDINATION
-----Original Message----From:
Hannelie van Niekerk
Sent:
Monday, May 12, 2003 8:29 AM
To:
Suiko Alston
Subject:
System Ops meeting
Hi Suiko,
Is the system ops meeting still scheduled for today?
Do you need me there?
Ta
Hannelie van Niekerk
Momentum Employee Benefits: IT
4 Merchant Place - Sandton
(
: +27 11 685-4397
Ê
: +27 11 685-4392
E-mail : [email protected]
________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________
From:
Suiko Alston
Sent:
Monday, May 12, 2003 9:05 AM
To:
Hannelie van Niekerk
Subject:
RE: System Ops meeting
Hi Hannelie :o)
Fran is in Sandton for most of the week - Ed just got an SMS saying systems op meeting postponed
till next Monday
Ta
S
________________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________
We had a data cleanup meeting earlier that week, and I had not completed the progress report on
the data cleanup as Francesca had missed several previous scheduled meetings without notifying
any of us at all. I explained that it was a waste of my time to spend 5 hours preparing a report
every time just incase she decides to pitch for one of her appointments. I was not rude or
insulting in any way. In fact, it was the first time I had ever verbally responded to anything
since I became aware that there was something more to all of this. She then screamed at me and
told me to 'get the f**k out' of her office. I duly went to my desk, packed up and left for the
afternoon.
________________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________
UNAUTHORISED REMOVAL AND ATTEMPTED REMOVAL OF CONFIDENTIAL CLIENT INFORMATION FROM LEKANA'S
PREMISES
On the morning of Friday 11 November 2003, when I got to my desk, my PC was gone - all that was
there was a screen, still plugged in. Appointed as Information Specialist and as such primarily
responsible for data it goes without saying that I was unable to do anything constructive at the
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ANNEXURE A IN MY DEFENSE.txt
office without the tool of my trade. After taking work to go through at home I left (section 14
transfer recon). It was then that I noticed Deon, from 3D properties and a security guard
following me and then realised that they were trying to prevent me leaving with anything. Why
would someone who has nothing to hide go to such extreme lengths ? This is supposedly a
professional corporate environment, not cops and robbers.
In the basement, security would not buzz me out as per instructions received from Lekana . I
then went one level up to B1 and encountered Cheryl Harwood from HR running down the stairs
towards me. So I ran out and exited through the vehicle ramp and ran down Commissioner St. I
went to John Vorster Square where I put everything in the safe. Whilst at the police station, I
received a call from my grandmother in Pretoria saying that Ann Weisz had called her to ask for
my celphone number. The company refused to issue me with a celphone or business cards so not
many people had my private number. On arriving at the police station I had an anxiety attack
for the first time in my life. Attached please find a letter from my doctor, Dr N.J. Smit, whom
I went to see that afternoon declaring me unfit for work for 2 weeks as a result of work induced
stress, anxiety and secondary major depression.
For the record, I was chased out of the Life Center on Friday, the 11 November 2003 - the day
the Treaty of Versailles was signed to end World War I. The reason Lekana backdated my
'resignation' date to the 6th November (as indicated by certain correspondence) was that I had
lodged an application to join a Trade Union, SASBO, on the 10th November 2003 (as I was unable
to join the National Union of Mineworkers due to being employed in a different sector - confirm
with Shawn van der Merwe who accompanied me in my effort to join NUM earlier in the year in
Rissik Street).
I met Ann Weisz on the Monday in Sandton at Cafe Cafe. Here I was told that should I not resign,
return all documentation sign a confidentiality agreement I would be charged with employee theft
as they had me on camera leaving the building. At this stage Lekana still had no idea
specifically what documentation I had left the building with. It could have been sheet music.
Before meeting her there again the following day, I contacted Ann to ask her if she would like
to accompany me to the police station to retrieve the documentation as proof that I had not
copied it or tampered with it. She declined. These were the source files for the section 14
transfers of which I returned everything untouched.
Given the fact that on both previous occassions of me
original data / my backups, a reasonable man can only
any further evidence I submitted. What if I needed to
in a court of law ? So I kept my email correspondence
reporting fraud Lekana confiscated the
deduce that they would conceal or destroy
defend these allegations made against me
backups as detailed above.
exerpt : LETTER TO MY LAWYER FROM ANN WEISZ ON MY WITHDRAWAL OF RESIGNATION ON 5 December 2003 :
5 December 2003
Ms S Alston
108 Matroosberg Road
Waterkloof Park
Pretoria
0181
c/o Mr Imraan Haffegee
[email protected]
WITHOUT PREJUDICE
Dear Sir
RESIGNATION FROM SERVICE
We note with surprise the content of Ms Alston’s letter dated 28 November 2003 that was e-mailed
to our offices.
We regret to advise that we are not prepared to allow your client to withdraw her letter of
resignation, which we believe was given voluntarily and unconditionally in an effort to avoid a
disciplinary hearing for misconduct, admitted by your client both verbally and electronically by
SMS to a company cellphone.
--end
________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________
I never ever resigned as an admission to guilt. I didnt have much choice. I refused to sign the
original settlement agreement as provided by Ann Weisz above. I would have stayed and at least
be given a hearing by an independent ear at the CCMA on these allegations and be allowed to
defend myself. I merely SMS'ed her to tell her that I would be handing in my resignation the
following day.
________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________
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ANNEXURE A IN MY DEFENSE.txt
Something is only defamatory if it is untrue. Nothing I have said is untrue. I have visible
prima facie evidence for everything. When one's word is congruent with fact as evidenced, most
normal people generally assume that this means a person is speaking the truth. I fail to see how
I have not supported anything I have claimed with hard facts. In such a case, it is not me who
is 'smearing' the subject with 'unfounded and baseless allegations' and doing damage to their
character, but rather the voice of truth that shows such people or organisations to damage to
their character and reputations by means of their own actions and words. I have been and still
am merely a mirror of what is fact. Because truth is the only constant one has to protect you
in dealing with people who may be less than truthful.
Keeping this in mind, all the above allegations and accusations made against me have been shown
to be untrue. This would mean that is I who has been the subject of defamation. I have suffered
in not being able to find employment without a reference, in having my name tarnished in my
field of work and amongst all my former colleagues at Lekana. My health has suffered, I have
been blacklisted, my family, my career and so too my self esteem. So because a good name has no
price on it, and being left no other option, I am clearing my name so that I can at least
receive some acknowledgement and recognition for that which I value the most before I can carry
on with the rest of my life.
I remain,
Miss Suiko Alston
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