Call to probe minister Macpherson over 'meddling' in IDT

Media been used to get rid of trust's chief executive

- By Bongani Mdakane

The ongoing controversy surrounding the governance of the Independent Development Trust (IDT) has now reached the portfolio committee on public works and infrastructure after Norma Mbatha, chairperson of the non-profit organisation Izwi Labantu submitted a formal complaint against minister Dean Macpherson to committee chairperson Carol Phiri.

In her letter, also copied to Macpherson and his deputy Sihle Zikalala, Mbatha alleges that Macpherson has been “meddling in the affairs of the IDT”, particularly by influencing media coverage to justify the appointment of new IDT board members and the attempted removal of the IDT's CEO.

This escalation comes after Izwi Labantu and Black Forum South Africa failed in their urgent Pretoria High Court bid to stop Macpherson from appointing a new IDT board. The court dismissed their application, but Mbatha insists the dismissal was on technical grounds, not the merits. “The court did not rule on whether the appointments were lawful,” she says.