Johannesburg – Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) chief operating officer Fundi Sithebe dropped a bombshell when she announced at a board meeting that the company’s general manager Bongiwe Pityi-Vokwana was investigated by the Hawks for fraud and murder.
Sithebe, the former Acsa acting CEO, also informed Joburg law firm Malatji and Co Attorneys later in a separate incident that Pityi-Vokwana was also investigated for fraud and corruption by the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, also known as the Hawks.
The chilling details are contained in a lawsuit Pityi-Vokwana filed against Sithebe in the Joburg High Court last week in which she is demanding a total of R10-million for defamation.
She is demanding R5-million for defaming her in front of the board members and another R5-million for defaming her to Malatji and Co Attorneys.
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In the suit papers that Sunday World has seen, Pityi-Vokwana says Sithebe announced at a board meeting held in Joburg on or about December 10 2019 that she was concerned about her reinstatement to her position as GM because the Hawks were investigating her for fraud and murder.
Pityi-Vokwana, together with her subordinates, were suspended but later reinstated to their positions after being found guilty and given a written warning for her role in the awarding of tender to a service provider. Pityi-Vokwana said Sithebe’s utterances defamed her as the latter made them in a meeting attended by the board of directors including Acsa chairperson Sandile Nogxina.
“The statements are wrongful and defamatory of the plaintiff and were intended and understood by the members and the public, to whom they were repeated, to mean and or to impute and or to convey the innuendo inter alia that the plaintiff, inter alia, is a murderer, a fraudster, a co-conspirator, unprofessional and a person whom a company should not employ because to do so would be prejudicial to such company.
“In the premises and as a result of the aforesaid conduct of the defendant, the plaintiff has sustained damages in the sum of R5-million in respect of the injury to her reputation and humiliation and degradation, both in her professional and personal capacity,” read the high court papers.
Pity-Vokwana also said Sithebe defamed her again when she provided documents to Malatji and Co Attorneys from whom she was soliciting a legal opinion concerning her involvement in the tender on December 17 2019. In the documents, she said Sithebe stated that Pityi-Vokwana was involved in a fraudulent transaction relating to the award of a tender and was also implicated in tender fraud and tender collusion.
Sithebe further told the lawyers that Pityi-Vokwana was charged with gross negligence and or gross dereliction of duty and or abdication of duties and responsibilities.
Pityi-Vokwana said Sithebe was aware when she made these statements to the lawyers that she wanted another opportunity to invalidate the outcome of the disciplinary proceedings that had been entered into by her and Acsa.
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