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Gambakwe announced that the Labour Court in Cape Town ruled in his favor, dismissing UWC’s special plea to throw out his case [01:40]. His lawsuit, filed under the Protected Disclosures Act, will now proceed.
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Employment History: He served as UWC’s Information Security Manager for approximately two years until his contract was terminated in March 2025, a move he argues was retaliatory [01:11].
Key Security & Financial Allegations
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R20 Million Data Hack: Upon joining UWC, Gambakwe discovered that hackers had compromised the university’s VPN system, draining over R20 million worth of student mobile data and airtime [04:02].
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Inflated Supplier Invoices: He alleges that an IT supplier attempted to inflate an invoice for security system upgrades by over R1 million. When he reported this attempted fraud to management, he was suddenly suspended weeks later without a formal discussion [08:41].
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Payroll Fraud & Ghost Workers: Gambakwe claims that a rushed implementation of a new payroll system introduced ghost workers, resulting in millions of Rands being lost while legitimate work-study students went unpaid [25:42].
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Unreported Library Crash: He states that UWC’s library system completely crashed, resulting in the loss of all student information and research. Instead of reporting the catastrophic data loss, the department allegedly rebuilt the system and copied massive amounts of files in secret, and management ordered him not to investigate [27:14].
Governance Failures & Retaliation
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Executive “Syndicate”: Gambakwe accuses top UWC executives of operating as a syndicate that actively covers up institutional failures, fraud, and security breaches [22:08].
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Compromised Whistleblower Hotline: He claims that the university’s KPMG-managed ethics hotline is compromised. According to his statement, reports submitted to the hotline are routed back to the very executives being investigated, leading to the victimization of whistleblowers [16:01].
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Intercepted Communications: When he attempted to escalate these issues to the UWC Council Chairperson and audit committees, he discovered that internal emails were being maliciously deleted to prevent the council from seeing his warnings [18:53].
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IT Vulnerabilities: He warns that UWC’s current IT infrastructure is severely compromised, heavily reliant on unauthorized external contractors, and lacking qualified internal staff to recover from future cyberattacks [31:25].
Gambakwe concluded by stating that he has spent over R180,000 of his own money fighting this case, but remains committed to seeing it through court to expose these governance issues and protect the university’s integrity [23:54].
SUMMARY
Summary: Internal Control Collapse and Retaliation Against Gambakwe at UWC
Introduction (from timeline):
Gambakwe joined UWC as Infosec Manager in July 2023. Upon arrival, they found the university had no visibility of its network perimeter and had recently been hacked. On 12 October 2023, UWC lost R20 million through a hack of the OpenVPN student data chargeback system, where hackers used compromised student accounts to recharge Vodacom, Telkom, and MTN SIM cards.
Key findings:
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System failure: Internal controls have collapsed. The whistleblower hotline is compromised, and ICS systems remain vulnerable.
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Access blocked: No current staff can log in to fix the systems—they rely on a former employee (now at Checkers) for help.
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Racial discrimination: Black employees are refused entry; the department is entirely Indian. Three black local staff hired by Gambakwe were fired on their first day.
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Corruption & ghost employees: Private UWC data was moved offsite and compromised. 95 ghost employees were added to the system at Adapt-it. Procurement irregularities involve named individuals and the acting director.
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Unqualified staff & outdated systems: Most department employees cannot log into any system and lack qualifications. Security systems and updated policies are missing—money is paid annually to rewrite policies that are never published (likely fund siphoning).
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Retaliation against Gambakwe: Gambakwe recommended canceling a non‑performing supplier (First Technology). After pointing out a 30% inflated invoice (R1.8 million) on a contract renewal, they were suspended. Six of seven charges were baseless, but upon return, management launched another investigation for “bringing the department into disrepute” by reporting fraud. Gambakwe was ultimately dismissed.
