PODCAST | Nasty turn in corruption investigation at Fort Hare

While the University of Fort Hare buckles under the weight of corruption allegations and ongoing criminal investigations, Business Law Focus host Evan Pickworth looks into the recent arrests of two prominent attorneys working on uncovering fraud and corruption at the university. The arrests came despite their trove of evidence, measuring in the terabytes and dating back to 2018, which they say lifts the lid on extensive layers of corruption at the university. 

In the interview, labour lawyer Bradley Conradie and forensic lawyer Sarah Burger explain how they were recently arrested by the police national task team investigating criminality at the university. They tell how they were whisked away Hollywood-style by 20 armed men from the comfort of their offices in Cape Town via private jet to East London and jailed, before having to fork out an extensive R50,000 bail.

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Apart from allegations of rampant fraud, acts of criminality at the university include allegations of murder and attempted murder. Conradie and Burger say they have been threatened before and have faced down an attempted assassination. They continue to feel unsafe and are preparing action against the state for the way in which they have been treated.

They see themselves as blowing the whistle on corruption and now being caught up in retaliation over that, spending time in jail and court with the very people they have fingered for criminal activity. In an ironic twist, they have been provisionally suspended from two corruption-busting bodies — the Institute of Commercial Forensic Practitioners and the International Association of Financial Crimes Investigators — pending the outcome of the criminal case.

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