Preliminary posting

Skeletons in the closet

"[A]ll political parties tend to become mafias, even if they don't start out that way - and the distinction between criminal and political mafias is largely one of degree."
- Sam Sole, Mail & Guardian, Dec 23 2005 to Jan 5 2006

4 253 votes were cast for EThekwini EcoPeace in December 2000, after a campaign with a budget of about R300. Key items in its election platform were:
* rotation of councillors;
* councillor salaries to go to community projects (after the payment of a living wage to the councillors, if they lacked other income);
* participatory democracy as both means and end.

As the next election approaches, all of these have been either abandoned or severely compromised.

In just over a month in 2004, control over EcoPeace's resources and its Council seat passed from a group of 10 to a new group containing only 2 of the 10. In so passing, it went from mainly working class to mainly middle-class; from mainly Zulu-speaking to mainly English-speaking, and from participatory democracy to veiled dictatorship. I also have the impression that the new committee has less previous organisational experience, on average, than the old.

In that month, the two remaining members of the committee amended the constitution and then launched a new committee, inviting formerly inactive members who hadn't witnessed the coup, as well as members of their families and work/social circles.The excluded group, and some others in the know, tried various means of restoring democracy, and eventually won an admission from Alan Murphy, the present councillor, that he had violated the constitution in firing the previous councillor and appointing himself. We also won access to key documents.

However in a bizarre twist of fate, we were prevented from presenting the full story to the wider membership. Hence EcoPeace remains under control of the usurper and his mostly unwitting accomplices.

I will post, in the next few days, an account of events in eThekwini EcoPeace between August 2004 and May 2005, which will give details of:
*what amounts to a purge of membership;
*more than R25 000 not properly accounted for;
*violation of the group's constitution by the incumbent councillor
*disregard for election promises
...and more.

Due to time pressure, for now I will only submit the following sample:


1) The legal fee scam

In pursuading a meeting of handpicked "members" (some of whose membership forms are dated after the meeting) to mandate him to use EcoPeace money for his legal costs, Alan Murphy assured the meeting that the members of the old committee, who were suing him, had been invited to reconcile*.

Untrue! These are the final paragraphs of the letter he sent me purporting to explain my non-membership:

"The leadership of eThekwini ECOPEACE reserves its rights, in its sole discretion, to extend an invitation to you at some future date, to attend a Conflict Resolution Commission of its design, at a time and place of its choosing.

"If and when that process is successfully completed to the satisfaction of at least the Coordinator and Empowerment Officer of eThekwini ECOPEACE, and you again permanently reside or work in the eThekwini Metropole, you may apply for membership of eThekwini ECOPEACE.

(signed) Alan Murphy
COORDINATOR eThekwini ECOPEACE" (capitalisation in original)

This is the ONLY correspondence he ever sent me. Nor was there any other communication between us prior to 21 September 2004, when we decided to take legal action.

A few weeks after sending the above he sent similar letters to Lihle Mbokazi, Paulos Gwala, Zodwa Mathonsi and Patrick Mdima. Such indications of intransigence, and realising that a "puppet" committee had been created, led us eventually to resort to legal action in order to compel a resumption of dialogue.

*"Resolution 041009.1
1. It is unanimously resolved by the members present, that in so far as M.Graaf, P.Mdima, P.Gwala, T.Mbokazi and Z.Mathonsi, have not responded in any way whatsoever to the duly and properly sent letters - sent to each of them by the Coordinator of eThekwini ECOPEACE political party - notifying each of them that their membership of eThekwini ECOPEACE was duly terminated; and yet giving each of them opportunity to appeal the decision, or to comply with the procedures, policies and requirements of eThekwini ECOPEACE, such as the right to fill out the prescribed membership form and to reapply for membership; their membership is hereby permanently ended...
4. It is hereby further recorded by unanimous consent of the members present that the said debarred members have frequently been given the opportunity of participating in a disciplinary enquiry, to discuss and resolve the various concerns about their conduct, they have refused to be part of any such process, they have refused to cooperate with the coordinator and his appropriate directives..."
("Members Meeting", 9 October 2004, 449 Oliver Lea Drive)

2. The Double Salary Scam

This was EcoPeace's policy on councillor salaries at the time of the 2000 election:
"Councillor finances must be transparent, they must disclose their income and assets.
Councillors must not receive any council payment which would increase their TOTAL income above the living wage standard as defined by trade union federations...[they] must donate any council payment over and above that standard to their party, or to their community." (Policy document, November 2000, reprinted by A. Murphy in affadavit, 2004) (Emphasis added)

This was meant to discourage careerism, or as affirmative action for unemployed activists.

After his unlawful seizure of the councillor's seat, Murphy took advantage of the fact that by September 2004, the committee he was convening in the name of EcoPeace no longer contained any members active at the time of the 2000 election. He concealed the above policy from the committee, and despite being employed as a lecturer, residing on his own property in a central suburb, having his own transport (for which he was already in the habit of claiming mileage from EcoPeace) and having no dependants, pursuaded it to remunerate him for his services as councillor on the same basis as the person he had displaced*, who was a sole breadwinner with several dependants, and whose salary had been augmented by an allowance for public transport from an outlying suburb.

(*Minutes of Members Meeting, 11-9-2004, 449 Oliver Lea Drive)

3. The "Smoking Gun".

In January 2005 Simon Read, EcoPeace’s accountant, released a financial report based on documentation submitted by Alan Murphy for the period July 2003 to 20 August 2004. This casts new light on Alan’s timing in getting rid of his critics.

Whereas at the time of the purge we were demanding financial transparency because we knew that computer and video equipment had been bought, “business lunches” held, etc., now it was revealed that in addition, many thousands of rand are simply unaccounted for:
· a total of R5 500 is written off as “money owed to A. Murphy”;
· amounts totalling R9 000 have mixed descriptions, e.g. “Alan, Petty Cash”, such Petty Cash elements being unsubstantiated by slips ;
· items described simply as Petty Cash amounting to R11 192,30 are not substantiated by slips.

N.B. the above amounts (totalling R25 692,30) are in addition to other expenses under the headings of Sundry, Refreshments, Educational Seminars, Projects, Salary Advance, Website, Equipment, Pension, Legal, Rent, Bank Charges, Salary, Stipends, Telephone and Transport. Therefore if they were not for any of these purposes, what were they?

Even if no misappropriation can be proved, a strong argument can be made for Alan to repay amounts for which he kept no proper records. This is the money, remember, which we promised the voters would be used for community projects. And that’s not all…

The period after 20 August 2004 was unaccounted for, as a bank statement was missing. Later attempts to access source documents under a court order were unsuccessful as Alan claimed they did not exist.

4. Constitutional Sleight of Hand

On 27 August 2004, Alan Murphy and S'lu Sibiya met at Alan's house. Seven other members of the committee were boycotting, among other reasons because the eighth, myself, had been declared a non-member by Alan and excluded from a meeting by use of armed security guards, after I called for a "truth commission" into EcoPeace's finances. There was also a standing agreement in the committee not to meet at Alan's home since he had previously told someone to leave during a meeting held there.

Alan and S'lu proceeded to "adopt" a radically rewritten constitution for EcoPeace:

* Removing the requirement for rotation of councillors (giving Alan an indefinite term of office);

* introducing hierarchical structures, replacing the formerly explicitly egalitarian “Synergy Forum” with an Executive Collective, and within that, raising the portfolio of Co-ordinator to the status of “CEO” with emergency powers to act without consultation when s/he deems necessary.

The "adoption" of this constitution was subject to rubberstamping by a meeting of a new, innocent but ignorant committee on 11 September, where it was tabled as an "updated" version.

Not content with mere emergency powers, Alan also introduced new membership application forms which require the approval of the Co-ordinator/ “CEO” before membership is granted, and, if granted, the consent of applicants that the Co-ordinator/ “CEO” may terminate their membership.