I refer to "Deafening Silence" in Sowetan on November 28.

I refer to "Deafening Silence" in Sowetan on November 28.

For more than five years I have struggled to raise R1million for an arts and culture project in Limpopo that is having a positive effect on hundreds of disadvantaged, unemployed, poorly educated and aspiring artists.

The Mama Jackey story is extremely damaging to the morality of the entire nongovernmental organisation sector.

Where are the yearly reports and audits for Ithuteng? Where are Mama Jackey and her employees' tax returns?

I hope the international funders investigate and charge the guilty.

The Ithuteng board should do this, but they are complicit by omission, and have conceded they didn't know what was going on. Some have jumped ship.

I have no faith in our systems to investigate this.

If the Mama Jackey story is true she is nothing more than a liar, a manipulator and a thief, grossly taking advantage of poverty-alleviation imperatives and international stars with a conscience to enrich herself.

The lesson translates as: don't trust a South African. If the story is true, she should be charged with bringing South Africa into disrepute, on top of whatever other charges she might face.

Arlette Franks, Polokwane