Battle: Sibongile Vilakazi, former chair of the development agency, has clashed with MEC Tasneem Motara. Photo: Fani Mahuntsi/Gallo Images
The collapse of two boards in Gauteng’s economic development department have raised questions about governance during the six-month reign of MEC for economic development and ANC provincial deputy secretary Tasneem Motara.
Documents seen by the Mail & Guardian are evidence of the battle that raged between Motara and the boards of the Gauteng Growth and Development Agency (GGDA) and the Gauteng Gambling Board (GGB) prior to their collapse.
The subsidiaries that operate under the development agency include the Gauteng Industrial Development Zone, which houses the diamond-cutting operations recently visited by the king and queen of Belgium.
The two agencies have been left rudderless, with the gambling board, viewed as the department’s cash cow, led solely by an acting chief executive promoted from a management position in which she spent three months.
Details of the struggle between Motara and the development agency’s board, then chaired by Sibongile Vilakazi, were revealed in court papers filed at the Pretoria high court this month. The agency’s board was the second under Motara’s stewardship to collapse in as many months.
In her affidavit, Vilakazi accuses Motara of having an ulterior motive when she got rid of the development agency’s board.
The MEC and the board were at odds over the recruitment of a new chief executive. Getting rid of the board paved the way for Motara to install her preferred candidate in the position, Vilakazi contends.
Motara maintains that the authority to appoint a chief executive resides with her — and that the board’s efforts to get the MEC to rubber-stamp their candidate, then acting chief executive Simphiwe Hamilton, was a deliberate attempt to usurp her powers.
MECs or premiers are not allowed to appoint chief executives in agencies in their portfolios, nor are they allowed to appoint boards, said William Gumede, an associate professor at the University of the Witwatersrand School of Governance.
“From a governance point of view that’s absolutely wrong.”
Gumede continued: “There’s supposed to be, even at the most basic level, a wall between the political people and the administration.”
He said political interference causes paralysis in organisations. The risks that ensue when there is political interference are four-fold: people are not being employed on merit, organisations are rendered unstable, procurement processes are undermined and economic risks arise.
“The chaos brought by this interference undermines growth and it also undermines confidence that people have in government. The moment there is chaos there’s all sorts of opportunistic people taking that space and they use that space for their own benefit. Chaos actually brings more corruption and more failure,” he added.
Maladministration, corruption and poor governance of state-owned entities has fed into falling confidence in the state over the past decade and in turn led to a struggling economy that now sits with record high unemployment.
President Cyril Ramaphosa, who is vying for a second term next year, has sought to rebuild confidence by a strict adherence to good governance.
Notwithstanding governance concerns, Motara informed the development agency’s board of her intention to restart a chief executive recruitment process, which would be conducted by a panel.
Under this process, the MEC would approve the final recommendation by the panel and seek concurrence from the executive council, she said in a letter sent to former chairperson Vilakazi on 22 February.
In another letter, dated 24 February, Motara accused the board of defying her. Vilakazi requested a meeting between the board and Motara to iron out their differences, citing governance risks, and reiterated that the board was not defying the MEC.
On 13 March, after the seriousness of their differences became clear, the board invoked a dispute, according to Vilakazi.
Referring to Motara’s decision to restart the recruitment process, Vilakazi wrote in a letter: “The board finds it untenable that it is asked to participate in a process that will lead to fruitless and wasteful expenditure.”
Vilakazi cited the sorry state of the country’s public entities, as reported to the Zondo commission on state capture, adding that to improve governance, public servants must “redouble our efforts to do what is not only legally right, but ethically sound too”.
In response, on 16 March, Motara called a meeting for the following week to decide on how the dispute would be resolved.
But two days before the meeting the MEC withdrew her letter and instructed the board to make representations on why she should not revoke their memberships.
“My authority is continuously questioned, my requests simply not responded to or defied and, should this continue, I have no choice but to dissolve the board.”
The writing was on the wall for the development agency’s board, which had witnessed a similar sequence of events at the gambling board the month prior.
On 24 March, the day of the now-cancelled meeting, Motara wrote to Vilakazi informing the chair of her decision to dissolve the board.
The gambling board’s board, chaired by Anthea Platt, was dissolved on 8 February. Documents suggest its problems started after it raised concerns about the appointment of Karabo Mbele as acting chief executive the previous month.
Mbele was seconded to the gambling board from the development agency, where she worked in a management position for three months, according to the acting chief executive. Two days before the gambling board’s board was dissolved, allegedly because it was improperly constituted, Platt wrote to Mbele notifying her of the board’s decision to place her on precautionary suspension. In the letter Platt questioned, among other things, whether procedure was followed when Mbele was seconded to the gambling board.
Motara informed Platt of her intention to terminate her appointment as board chair earlier that month. In that letter, Motara raised their conflict over Mbele’s appointment, contending that she had numerous interactions with the board chair before the acting chief executive was hired.
Motara relied on section 12a(7) of the Gauteng Gambling Act to appoint Mbele, which — according to the letter — Platt cautioned against. The section states that if the chief executive officer is unable to fulfil their functions, the responsible member may appoint an acting chief executive who will have all the powers and duties of the chief executive.
The gambling board has been without a permanent chief executive since Steven Ngubeni resigned amid allegations of financial misconduct. Ngubeni was placed under precautionary suspension in June 2021.
In her letter, Motara said the cornerstone of the relationship between the board chair and the MEC is trust. “You need to demonstrate that you are honest and reliable in matters pertaining to the GGB,” she wrote.
“As things stand, I am no longer convinced that there is a mutually respectful or honest relationship between you and I … Your conduct has been both unprofessional, misleading and not in line with what one would expect of an ethically sound person who needs to lead the organisation with integrity.”
In a letter responding to Motara’s allegations, Platt denied she failed to perform her functions as a board chairperson.
“Your allegation of lack of trust seems to stem from the fact that we have an employer-employee relationship, which is denied. I have to act independently of the stakeholder … The fact that we differed on one aspect is no cause for saying that we failed to perform our duties or that I cannot be trusted to act in accordance with the law,” she wrote.
“The fact that we differed, debated and ventilated issues shows that we are acting in accordance with the law.”
In response to the M&G’s questions, Motara maintained that Mbele’s appointment was above board and that she was chosen precisely because she had occupied a management position, in which she was under very little pressure, at the development agency.
Mbele had also previously worked in a management position at the gambling board from 2016 to 2020.
“Part of my decision to appoint her to act as chief executive was also based on the fact that she has vast industry knowledge and experience,” Motara said.
The MEC said a permanent chief executive should be appointed by the end of May. The hiring process will include a panel of MECs — for health, community safety and sports, recreation, arts and culture — as well as human resources and the department. As soon as the panel has concluded its process it will furnish a report to the executive council which will then concur with that process, Motara said.
The executive council, she said, has approved the appointment of an administrator for gambling board. Should the new board be in office, they will finalise the appointment. If not, the administrator will finalise the appointment.
The new boards for both agencies should also be appointed by May, Motara said. Both the MEC and Mbele maintain that the board was dissolved to rectify existing governance issues.
A provincial notice, published last week, listed the names of 56 nominees for the gambling board’s new board. Among those nominated to sit on the 12-member board is Ngubeni.
Motara would not comment on Ngubeni’s suitability to be considered for the board but said she is confident the portfolio committee will recommend a credible team.