President initiates action against Mogajane

PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa has initiated remedial action in line with the report of the Public Protector on the appointment of Treasury director-general Dondo Mogajane.

The Presidency yesterday said it had notified the Office of the Public Protector that action was being taken.

On December 18, 2018, the Public Protector, Busisiwe Mkhwebane, issued a report titled Report on the Investigation of Improper Conduct Regarding Dondo Mogajane’s Application for the position of director-general at National Treasury and his subsequent appointment to the same position by the National Treasury.

Mogajane was employed as the director-general of the Treasury, with effect from June 8, 2017, on a fixedterm contract of five years.

The Public Protector found that Mogajane had failed to disclose a criminal record on the government Z83 application form he completed for the position of director-general at the Treasury and that this failure constituted impropriety or dishonesty, and amounted to improper conduct.

The Public Protector recommended that, within 30 days of the report, President Ramaphosa should take appropriate action against Mogajane in terms of Section 16a of the Public Service Act for “blatantly and dishonestly” making false representation of material facts in his Z83 application form.

In a statement, the Presidency said “the Public Service Act directs, inter alia, that the President is responsible for disciplinary steps and the implementation of relevant sanctions against a head of department.

“Section 42A(3)(a) of the Act enables the President to delegate to any minister any power conferred on the President, including the power to initiate disciplinary action against a director-general as well as to effect the outcome thereof.

“Consequently, President Ramaphosa has informed the Public Protector in writing that he has requested the Minister for Public Service and Administration, Ayanda Dlodlo, to study the report on Mogajane and advise on the steps the department will take to address the specific issues raised by the Public Protector.”

Ramaphosa has delegated to the Minister of Higher Education and Training, Naledi Pandor, the power to initiate disciplinary action against Mogojane.

“Once Minister Pandor has fulfilled her role, the President has delegated to the Minister of Finance, Tito Mboweni, the authority to implement the outcome of the disciplinary hearing, including, but not limited to, the implementation of the sanction pronounced by the chairperson of the hearing.

“President Ramaphosa is of the view that the current Minister of Finance, who is required to take ownership of decisions made by his predecessor, may be conflicted in this situation and it would therefore not be appropriate to delegate the power to institute disciplinary actions against Mogajane to the current minister,” read the statement.

President Ramaphosa has given Mkhwebane an undertaking that the Office of the Public Protector will be updated as soon as the ministers in question provide reports. |