OWN CORRESPONDENT, East London | Thursday
EASTERN Cape premier Makhenkesi Stofile has vetoed a disciplinary committee’s axing of the province’s agriculture and land affairs department head, instead appointing him to run the transport department.
Zola Gebeda was suspended in March and was subsequently found guilty by a disciplinary committee on 16 counts relating to administrative and managerial incompetence.
The committee recommended that he be dismissed – a decision provisionally endorsed by agriculture and land affairs MEC Max Mamase.
However, a final decision in this regard was delayed after Gebeda lodged an appeal with Stofile, in terms of the public service code, against the sentence.
“He did not challenge the substance of the findings, but appealed against the proposed sentence,” said Stofile’s representative Manelisi Wolela.
“After a careful review of the case, and of the circumstances surrounding his suspension, the premier decided to redeploy him as head of the department of transport.”
The position was left vacant after Vanguard Mkosana resigned earlier this year.
Wolela would not say why Stofile had ignored the committee’s recommendations, or why he felt Gebeda was still eligible to hold a top managerial position, except to say he was led largely by the Public Service Act.
The act suggests disciplinary action against a public servant should consist mainly of corrective rather than punitive measures, where appropriate.
Neither Mamase nor Gebeda could be reached by the Daily Dispatch for comment.