Senior officials in the province are accused of giving jobs to their relatives
Nawaal Deane
Staff members at the Department of Education and Culture in Vryheid, KwaZulu-Natal, are calling for action against what they call “rife nepotism” in their offices.
Staff say they have been excluded from decision-making since last December when interviews for finance clerks took place without the union being notified.
Surprisingly, the interviews took place on a public holiday the Day of Goodwill when most public servants do not work.
“Most of the people who are employed from those interviews are related to others working here,” says Dennis Maduna, a transport officer.
It is alleged that out of six candidates employed recently, three were related to members of the interviewing panel. The panel included three senior officials, who have been accused of giving positions to their relatives.
Richard Khumalo, one of the panellists and head of finance in the office, is alleged to have given his son Sibusiso Khumalo a position as a finance clerk. Another panellist, Dumisani Sibiya, a chief personnel officer, is accused of sitting on the panel when his niece Sibongile Sibiya was interviewed and given the job.
Panellists are also in breach of the code of conduct for public services, which states: “If an employee serves on a selection panel and discovers that one of his family members has applied for the post, such an employee should excuse himself from the proceedings.”
None of the panellists excused themselves from the interviews that took place on December 26 and 27, when most of the staff were on leave.
According to Dudu Nkosi, a clerk: “When we came back from the December holiday all these people were employed, no one was told or notified about these interviews.” She is aware of the situation at the offices but refused to comment about the nepotism.
Zanele Ngubo, a finance clerk, confirmed that Sibusiso Khumalo is Richard Khumalo’s son and points out that the director of administration, Thamsanqa Gumede, has two daughters employed at the offices.
“It may be suspicious that those daughters of the director were employed on the personal influence of their father, as members of that panel were favourite employees of the director,” says a staff member at the department.
Another official on the panel, Joseph Vilakazi, is also accused of not excusing himself from the panel. But he denies his family member was given a position.
“We did not contact the union but I think you should speak to Mr Gumede on the reason they were not notified,” says Vilakazi.
He claims he did not ask if Richard Khumalo was related to the interviewee with the same surname. “There is an investigation into this matter, but I am not aware of any relatives being employed.”
National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu) representative Victor Gadebe says the union was not informed that interviews would be conducted. “Nehawu was not invited.”
He received complaints by staff members that officials have been employing their relatives and that proper procedures were not followed during the interviews. He has written to the Department of Labour in Ulundi to investigate the matter.
“I have spoken to Gumede about this matter but he was unaware of these allegations and said he would look into it,” Gadebe says.
Gumede says an investigation is still in process and the outcome will be announced next week.
But staff members are dissatisfied with what they see as unfair labour practices.
Ntombifuthi Kubheka, an employee at the offices, says: “There is definitely nepotism in these offices and I transferred to the sport department because the situation here is unfair.”