Eugene Saldanha
Resident in Adam Tas Street, 18 November 1958 – 3 September 2006
Eugene helped NGOs to grow
 Eugene Saldanha
He believed that strong NGOs were a vital component of democracy and deplored anything that smacked of government interference to limit their access to funding from foreign sources.
At the same time he had running battles with the government to speed up the delivery of money from the Lotto to NGOs.
Saldanha was an expert on issues of governance and ethics in the public and non-profit sectors, and left his job as general manager of Print Media SA two months ago to set up a consultancy and complete his doctorate in this field.
Passionate about education, he already had a master's degree in business administration and an MPhil in ethics.
Saldanha was born on November 18 1958 in Boksburg on the East Rand. After matriculating at William Hills High School in Benoni he completed a BA Law degree. He taught in Port Elizabeth before joining a cadet course for reporters at The Star in Johannesburg. He worked there as a reporter and subeditor from 1980 to 1986.
Latterly he was infuriated by declining standards of journalism and would obsessively dissect newspapers for examples, much to the irritation of those around him.
From The Star he went to the Diamond Fields Advertiser in Kimberley, and after a year or so there he joined the Urban Foundation.
When he left the Urban Foundation he established and led the Non-Profit Partnership, an NGO, which looked at governance issues in the nonprofit sector, lobbied banks for discounts for non-profit organisations and improved the tax environment for them.
He was influential in guiding parliamentary reforms relating to the nonprofit sector and helped explain the number and type of organisations entitled to non-profit status and accompanying tax exemptions.
In 1997 he was asked by the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) in London to open its Southern African office.
While at CAF he was seconded to help the Treasury draft the Finance Intelligence Centre Act dealing with money laundering and advise on how such legislation would apply to nonprofit organisations.
Saldanha was critical of the culture of self-enrichment in South Africa, and scathing about former comrades whom he felt had lost the values they fought for in the struggle against apartheid.
Saldanha was a gregarious person with many friends and a love of jazz.
He was bipolar, a condition that leads to extreme highs and lows if not closely managed with medication.
He is survived by his 13-year-old son, Keegan.
By Chris Barron, The Sunday Times, September 10 2006
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