Sources have alleged that the removal of Nhlakanipho Nkontwana was part of Siboniso Duma’s political goal to “insert his own people” in key positions of power in the economic development and tourism portfolio to maintain control, despite his exit from the department.
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A battle is raging in KwaZulu-Natal’s economic development and tourism department for the crucial post of head of department after Nhlakanipho Nkontwana was ousted, allegedly because he is not willing to rubber-stamp wasteful financial spending.
Nkontwana, whom officials in the department have described as a “clean professional”, was placed on precautionary suspension under the watch of former department MEC Siboniso Duma.
This was after his 2021-22 performance review — in which he scored a “fully effective” 107% — was controversially lowered to a “partially effective” 96%. The adjustment was made after Nkontwana’s assessment had been decided with Duma’s predecessor, Ravi Pillay.
The adjustment was made under allegedly dodgy circumstances that may have involved fraud, according to documents the Mail & Guardian has seen. The performance review hearing was held in April 2023 and Nkontwana was suspended in October that year.
Thandeka Ellenson, the chief executive of the Moses Kotane Research Institute, was then appointed as the acting head of the department. She received an award from the auditor general after the department achieved a clean audit report for the 2022-23 financial year, on Nkontwana’s watch.
Departmental officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, alleged that the removal of Nkontwana was part of Duma’s political goal to “insert his own people” in key positions of power in the economic development and tourism portfolio to maintain control despite his exit from the department.
Duma was appointed MEC of transport and human settlements after the 29 May national and provincial elections.
His spokesperson, Ndabezinhle Sibiya, this week denied the allegations as “lies and fabrication”, saying Duma had nothing to do with hiring Nkontwana or evaluating his performance.
The economic development and tourism department controls a raft of public institutions, including the KwaZulu-Natal Tourism and Film Authority, the KwaZulu-Natal Growth Fund Agency, the Moses Kotane Research Institute, the KwaZulu-Natal Economic Regulatory Authority, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife and Trade and Investment KZN.
An official in the department said Nkontwana had filed a grievance regarding the adjustment of his performance review score with the Public Service Commission (PSC), which upheld his complaint. The commission also called for an investigation into the matter, including allegations that Nkontwana had altered the minutes of the performance review meeting.
According to a letter the PSC sent to former premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube on 5 April, the commission said it had finalised the investigation regarding his grievance and had found that it was substantiated for several reasons.
It said Nkontwana had provided sufficient evidence to support his performance scores and it was unfair of the performance review moderation committee to reduce them without considering the mitigating factors of operating under Covid-19 restrictions and the fact that the department obtained a clean audit in the 2021-22 financial year.
“It was found that both the moderation committee, the EA [executive authority] and MEC Duma did not consult Mr Nkontwana before the committee made the recommendation to reduce Mr Nkontwana’s scores and before the EA made a final decision to endorse the reduction. This failure by the moderation committee and the EA to consult Mr Nkontwana was found to be against the rules of fairness and natural justice,” the PSC said.
It found that the recommendation to reduce his scores was “unfair”.
The commission said it had also found that the minutes of the moderation committee meeting, which evaluated Nkontwana’s performance, had “questionable aspects” including “glaring differences between the first page and the last page of the minutes.”
“The first page of the minutes appears to be an original copy and is in colour, it is also typed in bold; whereas the second page, which is also the last page appears to be a scanned or photographed copy, it is not typed in bold as the first page is in bold. The signatures of the signatories on the last page are not in line with the typed names of the respective signatories,” the commission said.
“The minutes have recorded that the chairperson of the moderation committee meeting was the honourable premier, Ms N Dube-Ncube and there is even a signature appended next to her name; whereas this has been repeatedly denied by Mr Nkontwana who stated that the moderation committee meeting for his performance evaluation/moderation was chaired by his current supervisor, Honourable MEC Duma,” it said.
The commission recommended that the decision to reduce Nkontwana’s scores be “nullified” and that Dube-Ncube should inform him and Duma of the decision. It also recommended that his performance assessment be referred to the department of planning, monitoring and evaluation to be objectively evaluated afresh within 30 days.
“The honourable premier is advised to direct that an investigation be conducted against the secretariat of the moderation committee regarding the authenticity and/or alleged tampering with the copy of the minutes of the moderation committee meeting … as the minutes were provided to the PSC during the investigation of this grievance.”
“Should there be any wrongdoing that will be established by the envisaged investigation, the necessary corrective measures should be taken against the implicated individuals,” the commission advised.
A source in the department said Nkontwana had attempted to report for duty last week.
“He reported to the office on Thursday and Friday. Staff sent messages of their joy that he was back. Staff went to his office to welcome him back. Staff think very highly of him,” the source said.
The source alleged that Nkontwana was not wanted in the department because he refused to sign off payments for controversial spending, including the R28 million price tag to host the South African Music Awards in Durban, a plan the department canned in October 2023.
It is understood that President Cyril Ramaphosa quietly advised Duma to drop the awards after local artists staged protests about the event being planned without involving them.
Responding to detailed questions from the M&G this week, Duma’s spokesperson Sibiya said: “Your questions are based on lies and fabrication that we rejected last year. And our position has not changed. Critically, it will be unfair and incorrect for the MEC to comment on such a matter that belongs to the sixth administration. More especially due to the fact that the MEC was not involved in the hiring of the HOD [head of department] and assessment of his performance. We have no further comment to make on fabrication and lies peddled through the media.”
This latest power struggle is not the first during which Duma’s name has come up in connection with allegations of ousting key individuals.
The M&G reported in February an allegation by the African Christian Democratic Party eThekwini caucus leader, Jameel Essop, that Duma was planning not to renew Dube TradePort chief executive Hamish Erskine’s contract.
Prominent business leaders such as KZN Growth Commission coordinator Andrzej Kiepiela vouched for Erskine as a professional whose work speaks for itself.
Duma denied the allegations at the time as “lies, fabrication and cheap gossip”, describing Erskine as “a professional who is leading a dedicated workforce” that had done “exceedingly well” in attracting investments. Erskine’s contract was renewed in the end.
A spokesperson for the economic development and tourism department this week referred questions to new premier Thami Ntuli because “the employment of the heads of departments resides with the office of the premier”.
Nkontwana did not respond to the M&G’s calls and requests for comment this week. Dube-Ncube and Ntuli had also not responded to requests for comment at the time of publication.