Competition commissioner Shan Ramburuth’s leadership has been criticised by his deputy.
Numerous sources familiar with the circumstances that led to the inquiry have told the Mail & Guardian that a letter that deputy commissioner Tembinkosi Bonakele wrote to the Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel complaining about the leadership of commissioner Shan Ramburuth had sparked the leadership tussle.
Sources in the commission, who asked not to be named, said Bonakele had been eyeing Ramburuth’s job for a while and was using certain circumstances and events at the commission to get the commissioner removed.
However, other sources argued that there was dissatisfaction in the commission with Ramburuth’s leadership style and many staffers wanted this addressed.
One source said the conflict between Bonakele and Ramburuth stemmed from the filling of the position at the commission of the head of mergers and acquisitions, which has been vacant for eight months.
Angered
The M&G understands that Bonakele had completed the process to fill the position and had selected one of his advisers for the post.
Ramburuth overturned his decision and started a new process to headhunt someone for the job, which is said to have angered Bonakele.
There also appears to be some anger from within the commission with Ramburuth for not filling the vacancy sooner. It is a crucial position in the organisation’s day-to-day work.
A further incident that has been drawn into the dispute is the death of one of the commission’s senior staff members.
The M&G understands that Ramburuth held a performance assessment meeting on a Friday a few weeks ago with the senior staff member and the meeting became rather heated, with “voices being raised”. The staffer went home and had a heart attack some time over the weekend.
According to sources, Ramburuth appears to have been blamed for the staff member’s death in the letter sent to Patel. The M&G has not seen the letter.
No comment
When the M&G contacted Ramburuth for comment this week, he referred the newspaper to the acting director general of economic development, Saleem Mowzer.
Bonakele also refused to comment, saying the matter was being handled by the department of economic development.
Mowzer said it was not the policy of either the department or the ministry to comment or respond through the media on internal matters of the Competition Commission or any agency reporting to it.
“With regard to the death of one of the employees of the Competition Commission, we kindly request that the matter be handled with the necessary sensitivity and that the privacy of the family of the deceased be respected,” said Mowzer.
Serious
The M&G understands that the department views the allegations as “serious” and has launched a preliminary enquiry into the matter.
A number of sources in the commission said they believed that Bonakele was exploiting the situation to get Ramburuth removed. They pointed out that Ramburuth’s relationship with Patel was already strained owing to conflict over government interference in the commission’s work.
In particular, this revolved around the government’s objections to the Walmart-Massmart merger. Sources said this had placed serious strain on the relationship between Ramburuth and Patel.
“The minister is not happy with Ramburuth and could use this as an opportunity to get rid of him,” said one source. However, other sources argued that the complaint against Ramburuth was born out of a view held by many staffers that he was “abrasive” and “rude” to staff.