The Democratic Alliance (DA) in KwaZulu-Natal notes with extreme concern a recent ruling by the CCMA which will see a senior official within the Department of Social Development (DSD) return to work today. This in spite of an ongoing Treasury investigation into his role within the Department’s so-called blanket saga.
The DA now calls on the Premier to act against Social Development MEC, Nonhlanhla Khoza, for her failure to attend to the case.
The saga, involving the procurement of 48 000 blankets destined for the poor by the DSD, allegedly at inflated prices, led to the suspension of eight officials, including Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Brian Ndaba, last year. The decision by the CCMA that Ndaba return to work comes as a result of the DSD dragging its heels in presenting critical information to the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa).
The DA regards the reinstatement of the CFO as a travesty given that the probe remains unresolved. Added to this is the fact that the recent Auditor-General’s (AG) report highlighted that financial losses in the procurement of blankets was sitting at R11,63 million – no small change in our current financial crisis.
In what was a shambles of a meeting last week, it was also clear that the new HOD was not up to speed on the ‘blanket saga’ disciplinary processes and was unable to provide Scopa, as well as the portfolio committee with answers in this regard. This is unacceptable.
The Department also could not get its act together to update the portfolio committee, to whom it is accountable, on this matter, allegedly due to a crashed system. To make matters worse, a briefing with the AG’s office before the meeting also revealed that there are DSD disciplinary processes since 2009 have still to be concluded.
The DSD in KZN proves to be a disappointment time and time again. Instead of being a Department that lives up to its mandate, which is to care for society’s most vulnerable, it only cares about filling its own pockets.
Not only has MEC Khoza dropped the ball, she clearly has no intention of dealing with disciplinary matters and consequence management with the urgency it deserves. Even more unacceptable is that the Premier, Sihle Zikalala appears to be protecting her in what can only be construed as a political move so that he is not seen to be taking on the ANC Women’s League.
The time has come for the Premier to act decisively and do what is right for a change by dismissing MEC Khoza from her duties with immediate effect. The DA challenges him to do so and to seek financial recovery from those individuals and businesses that have unduly benefitted from this entire debacle. Only then will we believe that he means business.
