Relebohile Mafokane. File photo
Water and Sanitation Minister Senzo Mchunu allegedly approved the appointment of a provincial departmental head, with an annual salary of R1.5-million, despite the senior official possessing no apparent qualification beyond a matric certificate.
The Mail & Guardian has established, through an internal note from the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA), that Relebohile Emmanuel Mafokane, head of the North West social development department, only had a matric certificate when he began his five-year term in May last year.
Sources close to the appointment claimed that despite Mchunu saying he had reviewed all Mafokane’s documents, including the qualifications he claimed to have on his CV, the minister had not actually done so.
This “tick-box exercise” had become common within the government, they added.
“Minister Mchunu said he had ‘scrutinised’ all of Mafokane’s qualifications and was satisfied that they were authentic. But I can tell you that these ministers don’t really do that,” said a source who asked to remain anonymous.
“They just confirm a person’s appointment without bothering to check whether the candidate meets the credentials,”
The note from the qualifications authority, dated 9 March 2021, from its national learners’ records database, was sent to the provincial social development department as part of an attempt to verify Mafokane’s achievements as stated in his CV.
In his CV, which the M&G has seen, Mafokane said he had a postgraduate diploma in advanced business
management, attained from the University of Johannesburg in 2011, without saying what his undergraduate qualification was. The CV was attached to his application for the current post.
Mafokane also attached what appeared to be a certificate from the University of Johannesburg as proof of his qualification, without including an academic record.
However, the internal note from SAQA, which confirmed that Mafokane had completed high school in 1998, said the authority could not verify whether he had graduated from the University of Johannesburg because this was not captured on its national database.
This correlates with a February 2019 investigative report compiled by the Public Service Commission (PSC), which probed Mafokane’s irregular appointment as a director in the office of then public service and administration minister Faith Muthambi, who was found to have made five other irregular senior appointments in 2017.
The PSC report found that when Mafokane was made chief of staff in Muthambi’s office, his highest qualification was a matric certificate.
Muthambi, according to the PSC report, asked late former environmental affairs minister Edna Molewa to employ Mafokane when Muthambi was dropped from the cabinet by President Cyril Ramaphosa in February 2018.
“She [Muthambi] further indicated that Mr Mofokane was not liked in that department as he was doing everything she asked him to do. That is why when she left as [public service and administration minister] she had to ask Minister Molewa to take Mr Mofokane,” reads the report.
Despite these findings, Mchunu — who was the public service and administration minister at the time of Mafokane’s appointment in North West last year — supported Mafokane’s appointment.
This was in a letter dated 29 March 2021 which Mchunu addressed to former North West premier Professor Job Mokgoro, who was empowered by the Public Service Act to appoint heads of provincial administrations and heads of departments.
But Mchunu had to approve Mafokane’s appointment because the national government had placed North West under administration in May 2018, in terms of section 100 of the Constitution, as the provincial government was unable to fulfil its service delivery and financial obligations.
“The process undertaken by the office of the premier [in appointing Mafokane] has been scrutinised for compliance with prescripts and we confirm that the processes have been duly completed,” Mchunu wrote.
“Based on the information provided, it appears that Mr Mafokane meets the inherent requirements of the post. The appointment of Mr RE Mafonake as the head of department [for] social development is therefore supported.”
Detailed questions were sent to Mafokane on Monday but the provincial official elected not to respond.
Speaking on behalf of Mafokane and the provincial social development department, spokesperson Petrus Siko said Mafokane did have post-school qualifications but did not respond to why the official’s name did not appear on the country’s qualifications database.
“The North West department of social development still maintains Mr Relebohile Mofokane has post-school qualifications according to the records at our disposal.”
Asked whether the information the department gave to Mchunu could have led the minister to enable alleged fraud, Siko said: “The department cannot be drawn to allegations of fraud involving the then minister of public service and administration and head of department for social development in the North West.”
Water and Sanitation Minister Senzo Mchunu.
Responding on Mchunu’s behalf, public service and administration spokesperson Moses Mushi confirmed that Mchunu had oversight over head-of-department posts during the North West’s administration. Mushi said Mchunu “scrutinised” the information his office received regarding Mafokane’s recommendation “for compliance to all prescribed processes”.
“The verification of qualifications was done through the South African Qualifications Authority and it was confirmed that Mr Mofokane had three qualifications at NQF levels 4, 7 and 8, which meant that he met the requirements of the post as advertised,” Mushi said.
He did not respond to questions about Mafokane not appearing on the national learners’ records database, but said the appointment was “filled in accordance with the relevant processes prescribed in the Public Service Act and the Public Service Regulations”.
“The department therefore denies the allegations of fraud alleged against the minister,” Mushi stressed.
Of the three candidates for the position, Mafokane scored the lowest mark in the competency assessment done prior to his appointment.
This is according to an internal North West document authored by member of the executive council for social development Boitumelo Moila.
According to a competency assessment report compiled for him in January last year, Mafokane was flagged as someone who lacked financial management skills, despite his role as an accounting officer in the social development department.
“Relebohile displayed marginal competence in financial management. His evidence was not consistently applied across all tasks, which made it difficult to give him credit for his competency,” reads the assessment.
The MEC acknowledged the panel convened to fill the departmental head position was aware Mafokane had scored the least in an independent assessment compiled by academics from the University of the Witwatersrand and the University of Pretoria. He however allegedly scored higher during the job interviews.
“The panel noted his [Mafokane’s] performance on financial management requires upskilling, and that the developmental area should be attended to immediately after his appointment, so as to ensure his execution of the function is without any risk. The final resolution of the panel is to recommend Mr RE Mafokane for appointment,” Moila wrote.
The M&G reported in May last year that, shortly after Mafokane’s appointment was announced, violent protests ensued outside the provincial social development department’s offices and that various organisations objected to Mafokane based on his alleged unsuitability because of qualifications.
One of the organisations that criticised Mafokane’s appointment was the Bokone Bophirima Business Forum, which asserted that Moila had undermined efforts to professionalise the public service by allegedly appointing unqualified people.
“If you Prof Job Mokgoro and MEC Boitumelo [Moila] continue to hold exceedingly broad and unchecked powers, then there is no reason to believe you won’t continue to exercise them as you have, with predictable consequences for administration professionalism,” the forum said.
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