Sawt Falasteen - Charity chair accuses Prince Harry of 'bullying' as row escalates

The chair blamed Prince Harry of smearing the Sentebale charity he founded in southern Africa in honour of his mother Princess Diana in an interview with Sky News, which will be aired on Sunday.

Earlier this week, Harry and Lesotho's Prince Seeiso said they were resigning as patrons after a "devastating" dispute between trustees and board chair Sophie Chandauka.

Relations with Chandauka, who was appointed in 2023, "broke down beyond repair," they said in a joint statement on Tuesday, prompting trustees to leave and demand Chandauka resign.

Chandauka refused to step down and has now accused Harry of releasing "a damaging piece of news to the outside world without informing me or my country directors, or my executive director".

"That is an example of harassment and bullying at scale," Chandauka said.

However, former board trustee Kelello Lerotholi told Sky News he did not recognise the allegations.

"I can honestly say, in the meetings I was present in, there was never even a hint of such," Lerotholi said of the issues being aired by Chandauka.

Harry and his wife Meghan split from Britain's royal family in 2020, but King Charles III's younger son had continued his work with Sentebale.

He and Seeiso founded the charity in 2006 in honour of Harry's mother, who died in 1997. It was created to help young people with HIV and AIDS in Lesotho and later Botswana.

It is not clear exactly what is behind the rift, but Chandauka said she was being targeted after raising concerns about the charity's governance as well as accusations of harassment, misogyny and racism.

The Zimbabwe-born lawyer said she had reported trustees to the UK's Charity Commission regulator and taken her case to the High Court in London.

Harry and Seeiso said that they would also share their concerns about the UK-registered organisation with the Charity Commission.

Harry chose the name Sentebale as a tribute to Diana -- it means "forget me not" in the Sesotho language and is also used to say goodbye.

K.Hassan--SF-PST