Wally Mbhele
Embattled correctional services commissioner Khulekani Sitole’s unprocedural transfers of top-level managers could only be described as creating “absolutely chaotic” conditions reminiscent of banana republics.
This damning conclusion was reached by the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) this week as it ordered Sitole to reinstate Thuthu Bhengu. She was dismissed earlier this year on allegations of insubordination and irregular conduct.
Bhengu had been transferred from her position as provincial control officer in resource management to a more junior position of operational support in KwaZulu-Natal. Sitole again intervened in April to transfer her to an even more junior post at the Ekuseni Youth Centre outside Newscastle.
But before she could start at Ekuseni, Sitole dismissed Bhengu for failing to attend a meeting with him in Pretoria to discuss the job.
Sitole was ordered by the CCMA to reinstate Bhengu to her original position and pay her salary from April.
The CCMA also noted that the case of another dismissed employee, Thandi Kgosidintsi, whose allegations against Sitole sparked the auditor general’s probe, also fell within the category of unprocedural transfer of senior managerial staff.
Referring to the chaos created by Sitole’s transfer of Bhengu and Kgosidintsi, the CCMA said: “It appears that one of the unions recognised by Sitole objected to these transfers and appointments and decided to take the matter up.
“On a number of occasions, the Police, Prisons and Civil Rights Union had forcefully ejected Kgosidintsi and other senior officials from their offices, destroyed their offices and intimidated and threatened them with their lives if they did not leave the office with immediate effect.”
This, said the commission, paints a picture of complete chaos and confusion. The CCMA said the department has shown a clear inability to properly manage itself in KwaZulu-Natal.
“Management at both national and provincial level had simply ceased to function effectively,” said the CCMA.
“The contents of the documentation in the form of founding, supporting, answering and verifying affidavits reads like something reminiscent of the goings-on in most banana republics.”