Workers blast agency

UNHAPPY: EMPLOYEES LEVEL SERIOUS ALLEGATIONS AGAINST AIDC-EC

- Roy Cokayne

VISION. Ensuring the entity 'remains a high-performing agency that inspires confidence in its partners, workers and the international investment community' is a board focus. Picture: AIDC-EC website

(AIDC-EC website)

A group of “concerned employees” has made serious allegations of governance, workplace culture, internal controls, wasteful expenditure and mismanagement at the Automotive Industry Development Centre Eastern Cape (AIDC-EC), calling for an independent investigation into these issues.

The AIDC-EC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Eastern Cape Development Corporation (ECDC). It was incorporated in 2003.

The allegations are contained in at least five letters sent to the board of the AIDC-EC between 29 September and 6 October, 2025.

This resulted in the AIDC-EC sending three circulars to its employees acknowledging it has received several complaints from anonymous sources related to the operations of the company, while noting the allegations were “not backed up by verifiable facts”.

The board said in the first circular that on 8 October 2025, it had decided that the chair of the audit and risk committee should engage all relevant parties to obtain verifiable facts about the allegations against the management team.

It said in a circular dated 10 November, that a review by internal audit had been concluded and that about two weeks would be required to process and evaluate the report to determine the way forward. It assured employees that the matter “is receiving the urgency it deserves”.