Jailbird envoy Ngubeni fired after exposé
Debt-ridden South Africans cash in retirement policies and even leave good jobs to get at their pension
SOUTH Africa’s disgraced high commissioner to Singapore has been fired following a Sunday Times exposé that she is a convicted drug trafficker.
Hazel Ngubeni concealed her criminal history when she was nominated for her post in 2013.
On Friday, Department of International Relations spokesman Nelson Kgwete said: “Following the withdrawal of her security clearance by the State Security Agency, the department has revoked Ngubeni’s contract for her posting as a high commissioner . . . the employment contract has been terminated.”
The Sunday Times reported on October 2 last year that Ngubeni was fired as an SAA air hostess after she was jailed in New York for smuggling a bag of cocaine into the US in 1999.
She returned home in April 2001 after two years in prison, but claimed in her SSA vetting for the diplomatic post she had no criminal record.
Ngubeni flew to Singapore on April 17 2013 to begin her job as high commissioner. Security clearance was issued three months later.
On the day of the Sunday Times exposé, she was ordered home.
The SSA revoked her clearance and a government investigation confirmed the report.
The Sunday Times also reported how Ngubeni failed to declare that she was arrested at OR Tambo International Airport and charged with smuggling 9kg of heroin from Thailand in September 1995.
An SAA cabin crew member arrested with her told police she asked him to carry one of her bags into South Africa, but he did not know drugs were stashed in a false compartment. The pair were acquitted in January 1997 after a key witness, reportedly a Mozambican diplomat, refused to testify against Ngubeni.
The Sunday Times established that department records show Ngubeni was nominated for her post by “senior political leadership”. A month before she left for Singapore, she was a VIP guest at a fundraising dinner hosted by the Bongi Ngema-Zuma Foundation the Hilton Hotel in Sandton on March 2 2013.
Bongi Ngema-Zuma is a wife of President Jacob Zuma, who, as guest speaker, acknowledged Ngubeni in his speech.
Zuma’s spokesman, Bongani Ngqulunga, said Zuma had no relationship with Ngubeni and a third party had invited her.
The department said Ngubeni had been notified of her dismissal, but she said yesterday that she had not received a letter ending her contract. Ngubeni refused to comment further.
Suspect payments led to SA’s high commissioner to the UK failing security test.
STRUGGLING South Africans are cashing in retirement policies and pensions to keep pace with their debts.
The news comes on the eve of what is expected to be a tough budget on Wednesday, when widely predicted tax increases may reduce disposable income even further.
Anna Rosenberg, senior policy adviser at the Association for Savings and Investment South Africa, said: “Long-term insurance statistics indicate that consumers are grasping at straws for financial survival, with many policyholders unfortunately resorting to surrendering their savings policies to access much-needed cash.
“Benefits paid as a result of individual savings policy surrenders increased by 18% in the 12 months from the end of June 2015 to 30 June 2016.”
Labour lawyer Michael Bagraim said people from MDs to cleaners were choosing voluntary retrenchment and even resigning from secure jobs to get access to money to pay off debts.
“Every retrenchment I’ve seen in the last three months, there have been more voluntary candidates than numbers needed,” he said.
“It has almost become an avalanche compared to a few years ago when people were clinging to their jobs with their fingernails.”
Carel van Aardt, of the Unisa Bureau of Market Research, said many people were tapping long-term investments as a coping strategy.
“The strategy of cashing in policies has definitely been picking up speed, especially in the past three years,” he said.
Bagraim warned that people cashing in retirement funds early would create a time bomb. After getting payouts, they were walking the streets to find jobs that did not exist.
“I saw one fellow swimming in debt. If he resigned he could collect his pension of about R350 000 and get a severance package.
“Rather than lose his car and house, and pull their child out of a private school, he took voluntary retrenchment to pay off his debts. But he has not found another job.”
Every income group is reeling from debt, economists say, even though there has been a modest drop in debt per household thanks to stricter lending criteria and shrinking disposable income.
The richer band of South Africans had a high level of debt, said an economist, speaking off the record about research that will be released in a month.
Labour adviser Werner Buys said he had dealt with workers who intentionally got fired to get access to their pension.
“Sometimes they will say to the employer ‘Ek wil my geld hê [I want my money]’ but the employer won’t give them retrenchment. Then they intentionally stay away from work and commit offences to get dismissed,” he said.
The retrenchment cycle last year was unremarkable — unlike in 2014, when many government employees such as teachers and nurses took early retirement to access their pensions, Buys said.
But this year had got off to a sombre start: “I have just walked out of retrenchment negotiations and I’m going to retrenchment talks at another company this afternoon.
“This is the first time ever I’m doing retrenchments so early in the year. Usually they start around the time of wage talks.”
Van Aardt said common coping strategies included reducing savings, cutting out luxuries such as pay TV or gym membership, renting instead of buying property and moving to a smaller home.
The South African Insurance Association said struggling consumers were also cutting back on cover. Nico Esterhuizen, the association’s general manager of insurance risks, said only 35% of motorists on the road were insured.
The pace of debt in households is slowing slightly because people are not incurring more debt.
But salary increases have not kept pace with inflation and households are hurting from medical aid increases and elevated interest rates.
Momentum economist Johann van Tonder said there had been a significant drop in retail spending towards the end
One fellow took voluntary retrenchment to pay off his debts. But he has not found another job This is the first time ever I’m doing retrenchments so early in the year
of last year.
Durable goods sales in the third quarter of 2016 were down 7.8% compared with a year before, according to the South African Reserve Bank, and new car sales had dropped sharply.
FNB economist John Loos said that if food prices dropped with the alleviation of the drought, households could be better off.
But a ratings downgrade and depreciation of the rand could lead to interest rate hikes, putting households under severe pressure. — Additional Reporting by Suthenitra Govender