This is part 7 of my story as I uncover the truth about what happened at St Stithians College (JHB, South Africa) in June 2020, bring the perpetrators and accessories to account, and try to stop the ongoing damage that is being done to children and teachers. Other parts are archived here.
On 3 July 2023, the following open letter was emailed through my attorney to Shirley Machaba, CEO, PwC South Africa
Dear Ms. Machaba,
OPEN LETTER REGARDING YOUR CLIENT – ST STITHIANS COLLEGE – SCHOOL CAPTURE
You’ll be familiar with state capture but perhaps less aware of school capture; it is a term being used to describe events during and after 2020 at some South African schools, most notably the more well-resourced private schools.
The hashtags #statecapture and #schoolcapture are often used on social media platforms such as Twitter.
The benefits accruing to the perpetrators of school capture may not be as bountiful as those of state capture, but I suggest that the impact on children, families, and the South African economy may be far more perverse.
In my opinion, one of PwC’s clients is ground zero for school capture in South Africa.
YOUR CLIENT
I understand that PwC is the independent auditor for St Stithians College, Johannesburg (“St Stithians” or “your client”). As such, PwC will be familiar with St Stithians’ legal and operating structures and governance practices and know that they run a financial year from January to December in line with the calendar and academic years.
As the father of a former student at the Girls’ College, I am recording my story as I expose the truth about what happened at St Stithians between June and December 2020, bring the perpetrators and accessories to account, and try to stop the ongoing damage that is being done to children and teachers (see or annexures 1 to 6).
I have brought the first matter against St Stithians and three of its officials before a Regional Court; see why I am suing St Stithians over false allegations of racism (annexure 1). Despite attempts to have the matter thrown out or my claims diminished, the Court ruled in my favour and the matter is proceeding.
For background, on 31 May 2020 the Head of the Girls’ College made false, unfounded, and defamatory allegations against my daughter. She was forced, during the pressure of her matric year and covid lockdowns, into a sham trial and biased disciplinary process which on 23 June found her guilty with sanctions including suspended expulsion. On 5 October Adv. Maenetje SC ruled against St Stithians, Sally James, Leanne Horwitz, and Ntombi Langa-Royds, dismissing both the findings of guilt and the sanctions imposed.
My daughter is now also suing St Stithians and its officials for negligence and malfeasance in a separate matter at the High Court.
I foresee that we won’t be the last litigants, hence consideration should be given to previously unknown contingent liabilities in the financial affairs of St Stithians.
THE CAPTURE OF ST STITHIANS
The process of capturing St Stithians commenced on Sunday 31 May 2020 and ended on Tuesday 23 June. In capture by committee (annexure 4) and 24 days to capture St Stithians (annexure 5), I explain how an unofficial Capture Committee of at least 2 governors, 2 managers, 1 teacher, 2 consultants, 1 student, and 17 alumni, used intentional, malicious, unsubstantiated, and illegal attacks on at least 7 students and 15 teachers to take effective control of your client.
In 191 days of St Capture (annexure 6), I unpack some of the post-capture events between 24 June 2020 and 31 December 2020 when members of the Capture Committee went on to form a second unofficial Implementation Committee which effectively managed St Stithians, monitored progress, and reported back to the governing Capture Committee, and continues to do so today.
The formal governing and managing structures of St Stithians now serve to rubber-stamp decisions of these two committees and to provide the appearance of continuity, credibility, and legitimacy.
SCHOOL CAPTURE RISKS
Race and Racism
Racism, including false accusations of racism, can have civil and criminal consequences. The number of litigants and the quantum of their claims may be manageable provided St Stithians gains control of the race-baiters and race-hustlers within their campus, as well as the outside consultants who are used to fuel the fires.
For other matters from 2020 relating to false accusations of racism and for which summonses have not yet been issued, it is also possible that other parents, students, and even teachers may bring claims of a similar nature.
Sex and Gender
The risks associated with the gender and sex chapters of the school capture project could further materially impact St Stithians as a going concern. I suggest that any such matters would have longer lag times to manifest into litigation, but insofar as this may seem unrealistic, I attach a few stories from overseas (mostly USA and UK) for consideration by PwC (annexure 7)
I am not expressing my views on identity politics, or any identity issues raised by others in the public domain, or on any of the anecdotes that I hear about St Stithians. I understand if a child wants to identify as a streetlamp, a horse, a wolf, or a bank robber. And fair enough if a girl wants to experiment with boyhood, but I do think that the adults in the room need to be aware of the risks, including financial risks, of encouraging a child to embark on an untested journey with perhaps permanent and irreversible outcomes.
Indoctrinating learners and causing confusion about their race, sex, or gender, and introducing them to pharmaceutical products (such as puberty blockers or hormone therapy) and surgical interventions, may be good for extremists and American pharmaceutical companies and hospitals but it is not helpful to the more traditionally conservative people of South Africa. It is worth noting that some of the drugs given to children in America were also used to chemically castrate convicted child rapists.
Psychological harm, physical disfiguration, the inability to have children and even suicide, are some of the many irreversible outcomes that parents may have to deal with if things go wrong, even several years after their child leaves St Stithians.
The identity politics flowing from the St Stithians school capture saga of June 2020 led to many anecdotes from reliable sources close to the school, which, good governance dictates, must also be listened to and accounted for. I refer you to the approach and founding principles of retired Judge Prof Mervyn King SC with respect to Integrated Reporting <IR> and stakeholder relations in particular. You’ll also know that PwC was also a significant supporter of Prof King’s early work in this regard.
Please see ‘anecdotes sometimes become facts’ in St Stithians to St Capture (annexure 3). It is of course possible that not everything I hear since my daughter left St Stithians is correct, but if some of the anecdotes prove to be true, then the financial cost estimates I provide may be low.
Contracts
I also know that St Stithians has since June 2020 continued to amend its contracts with parents and students, perhaps unlawfully, illegally, and unconstitutionally, in ongoing attempts to pass the risks of its new ideologies and policies onto parents and their children.
For instance, management applies new legal disclaimers to the effect that St Stithians takes no responsibility for its new or revised curricula and thereby places full responsibility on parents for any negative academic, sporting, emotional, or health outcomes - see ‘beyond 2020’ in St Stithians to St Capture (annexure 3).
This should of course be deeply concerning as parents generally sign contracts and pay school fees in good faith, believing that their children won’t be attacked with false accusations, be used for experimental purposes, or be indoctrinated into cults, drugs, or self-harm.
INCREASED OPERATING COSTS AND RISKS
In addition to the many risks flowing directly from litigation, your firm should also be aware of the increased operating costs and operating risks at St Stithians because of the successful school capture project of 2020 and its ongoing consequences.
Increased Operating Costs
Also in the costs of identity politics at St Stithians (annexure 2), I provide a summary of tangible costs for 2020 based on management and teachers’ time, increased legal fees, and fees for new consultants.
I estimated that St Stithians spent R30 million on direct and indirect costs during 2020 alone.
You will know best, but perhaps an easy method of calculation is to apply a small percentage, say 10-15%, of the total annual remuneration costs for ALL people being paid through school fees. Then, add a few million for the increased legal and consulting costs, plus other smaller but directly related costs. Applying, as one should, a simple formula such as this in the future, I’m sure you’ll agree that my R30 million estimate for these recurring costs is low.
What I prefer about a simple percentage-based approach is that one doesn’t have to isolate the individual cost increases due to the many new identity politicians and advisors. Knowing that some members of staff are employed specifically to spend 100% of their time on identity politics, while others such as STEM teachers could realistically only spend perhaps 10% of their time on such matters, then a flat 15% works rather well and gives the benefit of the doubt that it’s not much higher.
Also, such a formula would automatically account for items such as inflation, loss of revenue due to students moving to other schools, and loss of key staff due to St Stithians’ newfound focus on identity politics.
Increased Operating Risks
As you know, bad advice can harm any enterprise, especially when given to weak, corrupt, or conflicted people in positions of leadership or management.
It is clear to me that some of the advice given to St Stithians - by firms other than yours - and which is being paid for by parents - is not always sound or free of risk. Perhaps some second opinions would be beneficial to St Stithians, the members of its council, its teachers, students, and their parents.
Furthermore, operating risks can flow from situations where incestuous business relationships are allowed to flourish. I am wondering if your firm has in the past fully considered all of these and their possible influence on the decision-making and costs incurred at St Stithians.
I AM NOT ALONE IN MY CONCERNS
Several others have written about St Stithians in a similar context and with similar touchpoints to the issues that I am bringing to your attention. While some writers focus on the racism aspect of school capture, others give more attention to the sex and gender aspects. But to be clear, my observations are that they go hand-in-hand as they are generally driven by the same perpetrators.
Ian Macleod
In a June 2022 open letter to St Stithians and Dr Sally James (see annexure 9), an alumnus of the college, Ian Macleod, asked several highly relevant questions about what’s been going on at St Stithians since 2020. The letter was supported by over 400 “concerned alumni, parents and other members of the Saints community” with over 140 supplementary comments.
Despite several hit-and-miss attempts to answer the questions, generally described in Macleod’s questions and “answers” on school capture (see annexure 11), St Stithians’ management has failed to provide clear, defensible, and non-contradictory answers, a situation which I also addressed in St Stithians to St Capture (see annexure 3).
For a more complete picture by Macleod, see also requiem to a school; goodbye, Saints (annexure 8) and why I kicked a hornets’ nest of wokery (annexure 10) in which Macleod states “I saw a gross lack of evidence that governance had been followed, coupled with hallmarks of dangerous theoretical models crowding out logic”.
Richard Wilkinson
Richard Wilkinson, a lawyer and #schoolcapture activist who also happens to be an alumnus of St Stithians, recently published the dubious ethics of Lovelyn Nwadeyi and Eusebius McKaiser (see annexure 12). Wilkinson’s essay mentions several top private schools including St Stithians.
Wilkinson says of private schools, “parents pay high school fees to independent schools on the general understanding that their fees will be spent on attracting and retaining the very best teachers and staff. They do not expect that their money will be funneled to the diversity and transformation consulting industry and often also to aggressive and expensive lawyers who will do everything they can to hound perfectly good and decent teachers out of the school on trumped-up charges of racism”.
Regarding some of the trumped-up charges of racism against teachers at St Stithians, he notes “of additional concern is that two of the students who orchestrated the allegations are the daughters of the school’s head of transformation”.
Andrew Kenny
In a piece by Andrew Kenny find out what works and attack the whites working there (see annexure 13), Kenny also mentions several top private schools including St Stithians and one of its consultants, Lovelyn Nwadeyi.
Kenny says of private schools, “in all these cases, and there are many more, the diversity warriors encourage the black pupils to come up with tales of white racism, which are never substantiated in the court, but which cause permanent damage to the reputations of white teachers, many of whom are driven into resignation”.
“[Richard] Wilkinson then gives example after example of the racist corruption of our leading schools by the diversity fortune-hunters”.
Kenny adds “I have spoken to teachers at various elite and semi-elite schools in Gauteng and Cape Town. Everything they said tallies completely with what Wilkinson has written”.
Kenny suggests “I appeal to somebody (like, for instance, Richard Wilkinson) to draw up an audit of all those schools in South Africa who have invited the diversity warriors to indoctrinate their pupils, and then publish this list so that the public can see what is happening. Parents might find this list useful when they are selecting a school for their children. I want fee-paying parents to know how much each school is paying for this indoctrination”.
The Silent and Fearful
I am personally aware of several teachers, parents and students who oppose the identity politics of St Stithians and other private schools that follow the same modus operandi. Many are afraid to speak out as it could cost them their careers or as it could disadvantage their children’s futures. Richard Wilkinson claims to have spoken to over 100 disillusioned teachers and parents and, should the floodgates open and these individuals find a voice, St Stithians faces a considerable risk of at best further damage to its reputation and, at worst, a floodgate of litigation.
Children should not be used to score political points in efforts to demonstrate how progressive and liberal a school and its leaders are.
MY REQUESTS TO PwC
In the context of the South African experience with state capture, and now that your firm knows a bit more about school capture at St Stithians, I urge PwC to assist where possible and at the very minimum:
The risks and contingent liabilities mentioned in this letter should be fully recorded and provided for in the financial statements of your client and announced to the relevant stakeholders particularly parents.
Legal matters since January 2020, especially those involving litigation against St Stithians, should be verified by an independent law firm.
Governance structures should be capacitated with independent and critical thinking skills and an ability to rise above identity politics.
Due to the serious nature of the actions of a group of people during 2020, I intend calling for a comprehensive investigation of your client and would appreciate your firm’s cooperation at the appropriate time.
The relevant PwC staff should familiarise themselves with this matter and stay informed by signing up at martinhumphries.substack.com where this letter will also be published.
I of course have no power to force PwC to do anything, but I am aware that (then Deputy) Chief Justice Raymond Zondo censured PwC for turning a blind eye to state capture at South African Airways (annexure 14).
Although the Public Finance Management Act has no relevance to the school capture at St Stithians, I have no doubt that PwC would wish to fulfil its obligations as an external auditor and to fully apply its own codes of ethics and business conduct and in particular its RADAR framework for deciding the right thing to do, respectively at https://www.pwc.co.za/en/about-us/ethics-and-business-conduct.html and https://www.pwc.co.za/en/assets/pdf/pwc-code-of-conduct-2021.pdf
Whilst I am not requesting to meet with PwC, this letter serves to inform you and to request that your firm does all the right things, you are indeed welcome to make contact via return email.
Yours in good faith
Martin Humphries
List of Annexures
SSC part 1 – Why I am suing St Stithians over false allegations of racism
SSC part 2 – The costs of identity politics at St Stithians
SSC part 3 – St Stithians to St Capture
SSC part 4 – Capture by committee
SSC part 5 – 24 days to capture St Stithians
SSC part 6 – 191 days of St Capture
Stories from overseas (mostly USA and UK) for consideration by PwC
Macleod – Requiem to a School; Goodbye, Saints
Macleod – Open letter to St. Stithians and Sally James (petition)
Macleod – Why I kicked a hornets nest
Macleod – Questions and “answers” on school capture
Wilkinson – The dubious ethics of Lovelyn Nwadeyi
Kenny – Find out what works and attack the whites working there
Raymond Zondo censures PwC for turning blind eye to state capture