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Charges against Mr Pyne James related inter alia to the receipt of commissions on donor funds raised to which Mr Pyne James was allegedly not entitled. Mr Pyne James was appointed as Senior General Manager (Snr GM) Fundraising on 1st February 2011. The conditions of employment for Mr Pyne James provided for a commission as an incentive to be paid over and above a basic salary in respect of commercial sponsorships raised by him and paid in cash to SANParks.

During the period February 2011 to April 2014, twelve (12) such payments totalling R1,9m were made to Mr Pyne James in respect of incentive payments. Following queries on the regularity of some of these payments, the Board of SANParks decided to initiate an investigation into these and related issues. As a consequence of the investigation, disciplinary processes were instituted against the Snr GM Fundraising and a disciplinary hearing was held on 10 November, 2014.

The outcome of the disciplinary hearing was that Mr Pyne James was found guilty on all charges levelled against him, with the sanction being one of summary dismissal. Criminal charges have also been laid in respect of this matter.

The Chairperson of the SANParks Board, Mr Kuseni Dlamini, stated that “We will act speedily to deal with any allegations of impropriety at whatever level in SANParks. We are satisfied in this instance that due process was followed in every respect. We will not leave the matter there, however, and steps will now be taken to recover any amounts that were found to be paid to the Snr GM Fundraising, to which he was not entitled.”

Issued By

South African National Parks (SANParks) Corporate Communications
Tel: 012 426 5170

Media Enquiries

Dr Gert Dry
Chairperson SANParks HR & REMCO
Cell: 082 441 4426