Pretoria - Gauteng Roads and Transport MEC Jacob Mamabolo has denied allegations that senior officials were being purged from his department after the resignation of six of them in the past two years.
Mamabolo was responding to questions posed during a virtual House sitting of the legislature yesterday.
EFF MPL Malesela Ledwaba wanted to know whether measures were in place to make sure the alleged purging of officials was stopped.
Ledwaba raised concerns that the department had been flooded with senior officials’ resignations and that there were challenges regarding disciplinary action undertaken against those implicated in wrongdoing.
He also asked Mamabolo how the resignations had affected operations in the department.
“What measures are you going to take to ensure that there is no more purging of senior members and that properly qualified professionals with the right skills are placed in the right positions?”
Mamabolo confirmed that six senior managers had left the department in the past two years, including the head of department, Makhukhu Mampuru, who resigned to take up a position in Mpumalanga as a director-general.
Others who resigned were directors for human resources, planning and administration, registration office, design and engineering, construction, and quality assurance.
Mamabolo said six officials were subjected to disciplinary hearings which were ongoing, but he did not clarify the nature of their transgressions.
He, however, said the department ought to act on the findings of the auditor-general without fear or favour.
“When there are allegations of corruption we must act on them. When the matters are before disciplinary processes we must follow the law to the end.
“We must leave it to those who are dealing with the disciplinary and not be interfering with that,” he said.
Regarding allegations of purging, he said: “We are not running a political party here. This is the government. People, there are labour laws in place. The rule of law is in place. You can’t purge people. We don’t purge people.”
He told the sitting that when he took over the MEC position in 2019 after the national and provincial elections, the department had no HOD.
“We appointed a head of department, and the head of department left because he got a promotion to be a director-general in Mpumalanga,” he said.
Interviews for the head of department position had been concluded recently and a successful candidate would start work very soon, he said.
Pretoria News