Cape Town - A whistle-blower, who was forced to flee the country after his testimony at the State Capture Commission, lashed out at the City of Cape Town for their “lack of support”.
Athol Williams, 52, who lifted the lid on Bain & Company’s dubious dealings with the SA Revenue Service (Sars), told Weekend Argus, the Mother City, which he claimed to have invested a vast amount of money in, was hanging him out to dry as his cash flow was dramatically shrinking.
This week the global consultancy firm was banned from UK government contracts for three years over the role it played in facilitating the capture of Sars.
Williams’ exposé, which received blanket media coverage, shed light on Bain’s role in the “seize and restructure” of Sars between 2012 and 2015, and centralise procurement procedures – changes that the commission said would lubricate corruption.
"In the light of the facts pertaining to Bain’s unlawful role in Sars, all Bain’s contracts with state departments and organs of state be re-examined for compliance with the relevant statutory and constitutional provisions,“ said Chief Justice Raymond Zondo in one of the inquiry’s five reports.
Williams has intensified calls for the various tiers of South African government to follow the UK’s example.
“The City of Cape Town just sits quietly while I get beaten up and intimidated,” said Williams, who was hired by Bain for consultancy work. He left, as he felt the company was not being transparent.
“We have to say ‘mister mayor why are you not speaking out?’ ... I was a senior lecturer at the University of Cape Town and when I blew the whistle on Bain, the facility asked me to leave ... I up until today (don’t have) another job, another income, it destroyed me, soon I won’t be able to put food on the table.
“I don’t want money, I just want the City to acknowledge that I’m a son of the City,” said Williams who is from Mitchells Plain.
“I also invested everything I had in the City for the last 10 to 20 years and now the deputy mayor of Cape Town (Eddie Andrews) even refused to reply to any of my emails or WhatsApp’s.”
He said he only had one plea: “Eddie, all I want you to do is say ‘this guy, Athol Williams, is a good guy, he invested in the City and what he did in regards to state capture is a good thing’, that’s all”.
UCT previously vehemently denied Williams’ claims that he was asked to resign or that the institution’s acceptance of his resignation was linked to his whistle-blowing.
While Andrews could not be reached for comment, Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis said Williams had their moral support.
“If he is looking for moral support, then of course he has our support,” Hill-Lewis told Weekend Argus.
“He has the support of many South Africans who hate corruption.”
He further said: “We honour all of those who stand up against corruption and help to root it out, Mr Williams is certainly counted among that number.
“Sometimes speaking out when you see corruption requires extraordinary bravery and risk, but it is absolutely necessary for more people to do it if we are ever to rebuild our country.”
Williams said he is hopeful that the SA government will also ban Bain from winning state tenders “in the coming weeks”.
“It’s embarrassing that they haven’t done so yet,” Williams said.
“I don’t want to punish Bain, I want South Africa to ban them because they (Bain) unashamedly continued to refuse to disclose the full details of what they were involved in ... we only know about Sars, because Sars collapsed.”
The Helen Suzman Foundation echoed the call for South Africa to adopt the UK government’s stance while applauding Williams for his work.
“The Foundation pays tribute to whistle-blower Athol Williams and member of the House of Lords in the UK Peter Hain for their remarkable efforts in securing this sanction,” read their statement.
It added: “We call on the South African government now to adopt similar measures in line with the findings of the State Capture and Nugent Commissions, both of which left no doubt as to Bain’s unlawful and destructive role at Sars.
“The fact that Bain has paid back its fees to Sars with no redress but is a gesture contemptuous of the magnitude of harm it helped cause.”
Weekend Argus.