Woman seeks answers from colleagues after being axed from firm

A JOBURG woman has accused her former colleagues of fraud and wrongful dismissal after they allegedly cheated her of their joint tender proceeds.

Mabel Mkhasibe, 54, wants answers from her former colleagues after she didn’t get a share from the R250 000 tender awarded to the company she co-owned with them.

Mkhasibe was a treasurer at Ithembalethu Waste Management and Industrial Cleaning Primary Co-operative Limited.

She said Hendrick Gomba, who was a chairperson at Ithembalethu Waste Management, fired her and never gave her the remaining money that they were all supposed to share.

Mkhasibe said that on November 18, 2016, Gomba conducted a meeting with all of them, claiming that she (Mkhasibe) must hand over the bank card that belonged to the company. He said that according to the law, she was not supposed to be in possession of the card, but could only know the PIN.

She then handed the bank card over to Gomba.

She added that she went to the bank the following day to change the PIN to the company’s card as she felt that something was strange.

Mkhasibe became even more suspicious when Gomba did not return her calls and changed his residential address.

As she was the treasurer, all the documents came to her, and it was then she saw that the money was paid into the company’s bank account.

She then went to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in Pretoria, where they had registered their company, to enquire about the money in the company’s bank account.

She was, however, told she was no longer an employee of the company and had been removed from all its documents.

“I didn’t know that I was fired. I had to learn that through documents as I was trying to figure out what was happening with the finances of the company,” said Mkhasibe.

She accuses Gomba of going to the bank with documents and claiming she was no longer part of the company and shouldn’t have any access to the bank account.

After learning that she had been fired without any formal procedures and had no access to the account, she opened a fraud case against Gomba.

Gomba told The Star that Mkhasibe was a “terrible” treasurer as she had misused the company’s money for her personal needs.

“We had to do something. We asked for advice because certain members were not active in the group, and that’s how they were removed from the company,” said Gomba.

However, Gomba said Ithembalethu Waste Management members were supposed to open a fraud case against Mkhasibe, not the other way around.

He added they were advised by the DTI that if they had a quarrel, they should vote.

“We voted for her to be out of the company. We have a written statement and an affidavit showing why we did that,” he said.