Questions raised at SPCA AGM over transparency
The Lower South Coast SPCA's annual general meeting was held recently.
Concerns about transparency and governance were raised at the recent Lower South Coast SPCA’s annual general meeting.
Local fundraiser Alan Hall said his concerns arise out of how the community views the society.
“I think it’s an important question to raise because there are people within this community who have been long serving donors, contributors, helpers of this particular LSC SPCA that seem to be marginalised for whatever reason,” said Hall.
Hall, with Jakes van der Hoven, organised last year’s successful Paws for Pints event at Rocky Ridge Music Venue in Ramsgate which raised R86 000, and R20 000 in food and blankets for the LSC SPCA.
Hall added that he also had concerns about raising money for an organisation suggesting that where there’s smoke, there’s potentially fire.
His other concern was that when he asked if he could see the financials, he was told he has to view them on site.
“One would think as a non-profit organisation that relies on donors, there would be transparency and anybody could have access to those financials.”
Chair of the meeting, Jaimin Patel, compliance officer for National Council of SPCAs (NSPCA), responded that manager Mike Davis of the LSC SPCA was following standard procedure where it’s recommended that people come in and view.
“It’s standard, but the management committee can make an exception and send them to you.”
Hall said that as a donor and fundraiser, he has a genuine interest in what’s happening now.
“The two things that stand out for me are that you have a membership base of only eight people and that your committee appears to be made up of NSPCA members.”
Patel explained that the membership is much larger, but the eight are currently paid-up and in good standing according to the SPCA constitution.
“We received numerous applications to become lifetime members, of which we can’t make a decision solely on our whims. We must honour decisions made by previous management committees. We’d have to look at the decisions made by previous management committees in terms of life memberships, which wasn’t available to us at the time when we considered them, and the period in which we could open the membership list at first. It was purely a timing thing,” said Patel.
Animal lover, Brandon Lehmann asked what the process would be for revoking such honorary memberships and why no notification had been given.
Patel responded: “So if the memberships offered by previous management committees didn’t fall into a category available to the SPCA in their constitution, it would fall away. We would have notified them had that occurred, but we haven’t had an opportunity to attend to that as yet.”
He added that they would have co-opted more people of the community onto this management committee, however, not everyone has the time or capability to serve on the committee.
“So when the LSC SPCA wrote to the board of the NSPCA, the decision was made that we would assist, and that is why we’re on the committee currently. We’ll review previous minutes of meetings, etc., to see how that occurred, if there are any inconsistencies and how we rectify that with the least harm going forward,” said Patel.
Lehmann also raised a concern about the SPCA’s finances, asking whether it was true that the treasurer Cynthia Steyn’s daughter was involved in bookkeeping through Steyn & Co., potentially posing a conflict of interest. Patel said it’s important to note that decisions to appoint an external service provider for bookkeeping services, security services etc., are not made by one person alone.
“There is a management committee and five people sit on that management committee… and a decision must carry majority, so I understand that it could be perceived as a conflict of interest, but if the management committee at the time made that decision, where is the conflict of interest? If the services we’re accepting are at a greatly reduced rate, I don’t see the issue with that. This is where it gets difficult because, again, it was a decision made by a full committee, not by one person,” said Patel.
Steyn said ‘she is all for clarity’ and outlined in detail the history of her and her daughter’s involvement at the SPCA.
When asked about allegations that the treasurer may be under criminal investigation, Patel confirmed that a letter of demand had been received and a case opened.
“It’s an innocent until proven guilty situation and thereafter we follow due process in terms of our constitution.”
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