Two more senior officials within the Department of Labour are being ”forced” to vacate their positions following the department’s disastrous performance in the past three years.
The Mail & Guardian has established that Masodi Xaba, the deputy director general responsible for corporate services, and chief financial officer Chris van der Merwe have resigned after Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana expressed dissatisfaction with their performance.
Xaba, who has been with the department since 2003, will leave by the end of January next year. It not clear when Van der Merwe will leave, but sources within the department said Mdladlana wanted him out as soon as possible.
”In fact, the minister also wanted Xaba to leave the department as soon as the end of October, but he requested to stay on until the end of January,” said a senior official close to Mdladlana.
Xaba’s and Van der Merwe’s resignations follow that of the department’s director general, Vanguard Mkosana, who, it is alleged, was forced by Mdladlana to resign.
Department of Labour spokesperson Zolisa Sigabi confirmed that Xaba and Van der Merwe were both on their way out. Sigabi said Mdaladlana had accepted Xaba’s resignation and that Van der Merwe had asked to be released on a severance package.
In a statement this week, the department announced that Mkosana will not renew his three-year contract when it expires at the end of this month.
”As the department we regret that we could not persuade him [Mkosana] to accept the normal five-year contract over the three-year period that he insisted on when he reluctantly took up the position in 2004,” said Mdladlana.
But senior officials within the department, who asked not to be named, told the M&G that Mdladlana forced Mkosana to resign as he was unhappy with his performance.
For the third consecutive year since Mkosana joined it, the department received a qualified audit from the Auditor General for its failure to tighten financial controls.
Last year, the Public Service Commission criticised Mkosana’s department for inadequate management. The commission said some senior employees received performance bonuses without performance appraisals.
Mkosana has failed to address a long-standing problem of vacancies within the department.
Senior officials said Mkosana’s departure did not come as a surprise because he lacked the knowledge of how to run the department effectively. One official said Mkosana was given the position of director general because of his closeness to Mdladlana.
”The minister had no choice but to remove him from his position to restore the department’s image. He [Mdladlana] wants to leave a legacy in the department. He wants people to remember him for the good things he has done for the department when his term comes to an end in 2009,” said the official.
Les Kettledas has been appointed as the department’s acting director general.