Petition for investigation of the NSPCA by the Minister of Agriculture

 PETITION FOR INVESTIGATION OF THE NSPCA BY THE MINISTER OF
AGRICULTURE:

The Petition of the herein undersigned members of Public who share similar
concerns over the execution of the NSPCA in their mandate as prescribed by Act
169 of 1993 as well as certain actions done by the NSPCA in violation of the said
Act.
INTRODUCTION:
THE NSPCA has been established with the following objectives as enumerated in
terms of section 3 of the said Act which are to:
( a) to determine, control and co-ordinate the policies and standards of societies,
in order to promote uniformity;
(b) to promote co-operation among societies;
(c) to prevent the ill-treatment of animals by promoting their good treatment by
man;
(d) to promote the interests of societies;
(e) to take cognizance of the application of laws affecting animals and societies and to make representations in connection therewith to the appropriate
authority;
(f) to do all things reasonably necessary for or incidental to the achievement of
the objects mentioned in paragraphs (a) to (e). Section 16 of the said Act has made provision for instances where the Board fails
in its mandate and gives the Honourable Minister of Agriculture extensive
powers:
The Honourable Minister may intervene: “if for any reason, ………… the board is
incapable and will not become capable of achieving its objects, performing its duties and exercising its rights and powers in terms of this Act, the Minister may-
(a) give a ruling with regard to any dispute or other matter giving rise to such
inability on the part of the board with a view to overcoming such inability; 
(b) give such directions concerning the functions of the board as he may deem fit,
including the reconstitution of the board; or
(c) direct the transfer of all the assets, liabilities, rights and obligations of the
Council to any other juristic person the objects of which substantially correspond
to those of the Council and see that it is done.”

THE OBJECTIVES OF THE PETITION:

We the undersigned request the Honourable Minister of Agriculture.

1] To investigate the large volumes of animals which have been destroyed (killed) as a result of the instruction from the NSPCA to societies which have no say in the decision but to allow the NSPCA to come on to the property of said societies and destroy animals which have no reason to be euthanized.
Euthanasia can be defined as humanely killing animals which are hopelessly sick or injured in a relatively painless way as an act of mercy. This is not what is transpiring in the societies as the NSPCA seems to have the motto that animals must be killed (not euthanized) because of overcrowding( their subjective view) and lack of resources to look after the animals. As the NSPCA continually closes down SPCA’s countrywide, the NSPCA just simply destroys the animals on the premises.

2] The NSPCA has not provided the number of animals killed by them as the NSPCA or through the extensive instructions to societies – year on year - there is no accountability or knowledge as to how many animals get destroyed yearly on their instructions.
The NSPCA keeps destroying animals which are healthy and the Honourable MP of Agriculture is humbly requested to investigate how many animals the NSPCA
has ordered the killing of to various SPCA’s countrywide. That they be forced to disclose such to the public and the public is allowed to approach the SPCA’s countrywide to verify the facts. That the Honourable Minister shall also mandate
the reporting of national statistics to his department annually.

3] There is currently a video on social media where the Highveld SPCA has video footage of the inspectors of the NSPCA simply destroying their animals. This seemingly is without merit or court order however due to the unwillingness
of the NSPCA to give open accountability the public remains in the dark. All SPCA’s countrywide have been threatened by the NSPCA if any “disparaging remarks” are made by any SPCA’s it will be in violation of rules, thus no SPCA countrywide can report the NSPCA, and if any try they are threatened and
victimized. 

4] The NSPCA persecutes any SPCA which does not tow-the-line and agree with the methods and destroying of animals for no reason and these SPCA’s are victimized.

5] The SPCA’s are suffering as they do not have funds to feed and care for animals and the NSPCA simply destroys these animals and yet the NSPCA does not publish the audited reports of any reserve funds they may have. It is well known that the NSPCA are beneficiaries of deceased estates, yet there
is no transparency into their funds, their reserves, their spending of these funds and why they will fund animals in Ukraine and publish that they do assist SPCA’s yet they consistently refuse to assist national SPCA’s which results in closure of SPCA’s countrywide.

6] The NSPCA funds, reserve funds and what and how these funds are spend
and donated to should be open to public scrutiny and sent to the SPCA’s countrywide annually. The Honourable Minister is hereby humbly requested to order a forensic audit of the records, accounts and spending of the NSPCA and their provider contracts, to ensure no members of the board are
involved in nepotism or have procured contracts to provide services for the head office.

7] The NSPCA has cancelled registration of multiple SPCA’s throughout the previous years and taken possession of the assets, funds, liabilities etc of the SPCA’s closed down, which should be donated to like-minded organizations in the area the SPCA was closed down, or the NSPCA has the obligation to
establish another NPO under it to continue the work done by the closed down SPCA, there is no record of such.

8] The Honourable Minister is requested to insist on a list of the SPCA’s closed down since 1993 ( or where records are available) and what happened to the assets and where the funds are, and if any organization was established to
replace the SPCA which had its registration cancelled or was dissolved. The Minister is referred to the allegations attached hereto that since 2018 there were 16 SPCA’s which closed down.
Just in the year – till June 2024 – The Highveld Ridge SPCA in Secunda and Queenstown SPCA was closed down/dissolved or had the registration cancelled.
Section 12 of the said Act is being ignored by the NSPCA.

9] The Secunda and Highveld incidents have spread over social media and the incidents are shocking when viewers see the distress of the SPCA’s officials -
which have their animals destroyed and are closed down. These videos and distressing scenes are then taken off social media. Even groups such as Titan Arc Rescue and Rehabilitation centre, Pitbull special victims unit SA are silenced by court orders and threats. It is well known that various SPCA’S are
currently embroiled in attempts by the NSPCA to remove their Chairpersons and staff for irrational reasons without any legal basis.
The NSPCA - inconsistently applies of the rules in the manual, Act and their own rules.

10] The inspectors of the NSPCA destroy animals without being appointed in the district they destroy the animals, they also give permission to other in the area the SPCA was closed down, or the NSPCA has the obligation to establish another NPO under it to continue the work done by the closed down SPCA, there is no record of such.
Thus more constrains financially are placed on national SPCA’s 
 The NSPCA treats volunteer Management Committees as if they are the criminals and offenders and accuses them of cruelty to animals, the NSPCA humiliates them- publicly by releasing media statements with untrue accusations. Resulting in people not wanting to serve on these committees
anymore, also causing SPCA’s to close as no one is prepared to volunteer to be abused and the communities which are subjected to the bad publicity over the SPCA released by the NSPCA stop donating to those SPCA’s and thus the snowball continues.
The NSPCA has released rules which prevent societies to release any information over the irregularities and atrocities committed by the NSPCA and has effectively
created a situation where they are protected from fair comment by societies, despite this rule, the NSPCA releases negative media in respect of various SPCA’s and by doing so has effectively negated its own mandate to promote and act in
the best interest of societies under its umbrella.
11] The NSPCA is utilizing section 11 of the said Act to persecute and harass certain SPCA’s.
12] Section 11 states that:

(1) If a society fails to perform any of its duties in terms of this Act and does not remedy such failure within a period of 30 days after the board has, subject to subsection

(2), by written notice to such society, addressed by registered post or delivered to its controlling body, called upon it to cease or remedy such failure, the board may, by a decision of at least two-thirds of the directors subject to the provisions of subsection

(3)- (a) designate a representative or representatives of the board as a member or members on such society's controlling body and order that the society replace a corresponding number of members of its controlling body by the representative or representatives so designated; (b) terminate the membership
of, or remove from office, any member, director, committee member, employee or other officer of such society as such, or institute or direct such society to institute disciplinary steps against him, if the board is of the opinion that such
member, director, committee member, employee or other officer is responsible for or is the cause of the failure; or (c) cancel the registration of such society.
(2) If during any calendar year the board has already issued two or more notices in terms of subsection (1) to a society, the board shall not be obliged to issue a 20 further such notice calling upon such society to cease or remedy a further failure referred to in subsection (1) and may exercise its rights and
powers in terms of subsection (1) without affording such society the opportunity to cease or remedy such failure. (3) Subject to the provisions of subsection (4),
the board shall afford any society allegedly failing to perform its duties in terms of this Act or any member, director, committee member, employee or other officer of such society the opportunity to appear before the board or any
committee or subcommittee established by the board for that purpose, or to make written representations to the board or such committee or subcommittee, if such society, member, director, committee 30 member, employee or other
officer requests to be allowed to do so before the board acts in terms of subsection (1)(a), (b) or (c). (4) If a society or any other person fails to submit a request in terms of subsection (3) within a period of 30 days after a relevant written notice in terms of subsection ( 1), the society shall be deemed to have
refused to cease or remedy the failure. (5) After the board has exercised its rights and powers in terms of subsection (1)(a) it may- ( a) revoke the designation of a representative or representatives in terms of the said subsection; (b) replace
any of the said representatives by representatives or members of the society concerned determined by the board in its discretion; or (c) cancel the registration of such society. ( 6) The board may in its discretion, by the institution of legal proceedings against a society, enforce specific performance by it of its duties in terms of this 45 Act. (7) The provisions of subsection (6) shall not derogate from the rights and powers of the board in terms of the other provisions of this section and may be applied in addition to the exercise of such rights and powers.

13] The NSPCA has used section 11 to investigate and remove members of the
SPCA’s – it is the belief that the entire Act has been used as a irregularity to accomplish the will of the NSPCA.

14] We are humbly requesting the Honourable Minister to remove the entire Board, the section 11 committee, and the executive must be removed and replaced with impartial directors which apply the mandate, the Act and promote
the objectives of the Act.

15] Questions such as why the current CEO is allowed to serve for so many years as she seems to ensure her reign of terror continues as she has already chosen her own replacement, one would ask how- as the procedure is highly irregular as these posts should be advertised - and surely the SPCA’s should have
representatives there on the interviews from all provinces. These interviews must be done in the public domain so that the process is transparent and not affected by personal favourites. The public have the right to know as this organisation is run by public donations.

16] We the public have requested members of the public and organizations to compile their own grievances which will be added to this petition so that the Honourable Minister can see how extensive the problem is.

17] We also ask the Honourable Minister to call a meeting with all the SPCA’s not in good standing which have been excluded from attending all meetings held which has the effect of the NSPCA continuing to keep SPCA’s which they don’t
like away from the decision making proses and we know of many members of the public who will raise a vote of no confidence in the NSPCA and many SPCA’s
which would do the same if they were afforded protection by the Honourable Minister.

18] We humbly request the Honourable Minister to take over the control of funds and to audit the records and Board and to evaluate how things are been done by the NSPCA, we ask this as a matter of urgency as the animals in South Africa are the biggest losers and we ask this while the Honourable Minister can still save the organization and bring it back to strength and appoint a Board and executive which understands and fulfils its actual mandate. Seemingly the NSPCA believes they can close down the SPCA’s country wide and run the country from Head office however the NSPCA doesn’t understand they are not
called to shut down their own, but offer protection, support and assistance.

Verne Burger    Contact the author of the petition