Six of 10 departments in the Free State provincial government are without permanent heads of department as fed-up senior managers leave in droves.
Morale in the provincial government has dipped to an all-time low, staff say. Two heads of departments have resigned recently because of dissatisfaction with Premier Beatrice Marshoff. Two other heads, unhappily redeployed in September, are fighting the move in court.
A further two departments are now being headed by acting heads after the premier’s reshuffling exercise.
Marshoff has also been accused of consolidating power in her office by usurping authority from a number of departments. She has indicated to the public works department, for example, her intention to take over responsibility for the Expanded Public Works Programme.
One of the departmental heads said the provincial director general in the province, Khotso de Wee, could also leave early next year because he has been stripped of his power. Colleagues of the two heads who have resigned say they are disillusioned with the manner in which Marshoff’s office is operating.
The head of the department of health, Dr Victor Ditlhakanyane, confirmed he was serving notice after resigning. He will join the private sector at the end of November. Ditlhakanyane said he wanted “to do something different”.
The head of tourism, environmental and economic affairs, Hamlet Morule, has also resigned and is set to join the North West government. Morule is so disillusioned that he is understood to have taken a R100 000 salary cut in his new post because he wanted “to preserve his sanity” by getting out of the provincial government.
Those close to Morule said he was tired of being “remote-controlled” by the premier’s office, despite the fact that he is a professional who hasserved in public service management for 10 years. Morule told the Mail & Guardian that he was leaving because he had been offered a new opportunity in the North West. This means that only four of the 10 departments will have permanent heads, raising the spectre of difficulties in delivery.
A KPMG report, prepared in August, has recommended that departmental heads should, as a rule, be appointed by provincial MECs rather than premiers. Current public service regulations provide for premiers to have the final say in the appointment of heads of departments.
KPMG conducted investigations into the Free State department of tourism, environmental and economic affairs where the previous head, Noby Ngombane, and the provincial minister, Sakhiwo Belot, had such a poor relationship that they were not even on speaking terms.
The breakdown in their relationship was found to have had a detrimental effect on the management and administration of the department.
The KPMG report concluded: “The power to appoint the head of a department should, as a general rule, be delegated to the provincial minister. The provincial minister must be in a position to select his partner in the relationship envisaged by the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA). To have a partner forced on a provincial minister can have catastrophic results, as in the instant case.”
Provincial ministers in the Free State are worried about Marshoff’s power grab. Her latest move was to remove the research unit from the environmental affairs department and move it into the premier’s office.
Marshoff started by creating a new unit called the policy coordination and monitoring committee, headed by her old comrade Ngombane, who many consider to be the real power behind the Free State throne.
He is responsible for monitoring all government programmes, has taken over communication responsibilities and is now also Marshoff’s official spokesperson.
At least one provincial minister has confirmed an attempt to take powers away from his office, but he boasted to the M&G that he was a “street fighter” who had fought off those attempts. Ngombane says he knew nothing about such allegations and referred inquiries back to those who made the allegations.
Last week the Free State High Court heard an application by the head of transport, roads and public works, Jerry Rakgoale, and head of local government and housing, Makhosini Msibi, in which they asked the court to set aside a decision by Marshoff to redeploy them to new departments. The two rejected their redeployment because they were not consulted and the court will hear the matter again on November 15.
Meanwhile, both the department of safety and security and the department of social development are being overseen by acting heads.
Marshoff has been sailing in turbulent waters ever since her appointment as premier after President Thabo Mbeki surprised and angered the local African National Congress leadership by choosing her ahead of favourite, ANC provincial chairperson Elias “Ace” Magashule.
Marshoff’s relationship with the provincial ANC structures sank to a new low last week after they distanced themselves from her decision to dissolve three municipalities, Motheo, Phumelela and Moqhaka, which were experiencing service delivery problems. Lack of delivery, particularly in Phumelela, attracted national attention in August as youths took to the streets and embarrassed both the province and the ANC. This led Mbeki to criticise the councillors in the area.
Marshoff then dissolved the Motheo municipality (which includes Bloemfontein), ignoring the ANC provincial structure’s attempts to solve the problem by installing a new mayor.