Legal unit takes aim at Masualle

PSC ‘ignored’ on pair’s spat, it says

THE Eastern Cape legislature’s legal unit has accused Premier Phumulo Masualle of breaching the constitution and Public Service Act by ignoring the recommendations of the Public Service Commission (PSC).

The legal unit yesterday testified before the portfolio committee on the Office of the Premier (OTP) which heard of Masualle’s alleged failure to implement the PSC recommendations. The committee sat to consider a petition on a protracted OTP labour wrangle between provincial communications general manager Mandisa Titi and the senior manager in communications and marketing, Nolitha Mbangcolo-Matshikwe.

This is after Mbangcolo-Matshikwe last year referred her grievance to the PSC following a relationship breakdown between her and Titi.

Mbangcolo-Matshikwe informed the PSC that her attempts to have her grievance resolved internally at the OTP drew a blank and that even the executive administrators in the office, such as deputy director-general Mahlubandile Qwase, could not resolve the impasse.

The PSC investigated and submitted their report and recommendations to Masualle to share with Mbangcolo-Matshikwe within five days of receipt of the report.

The PSC recommended to Masualle that:

● Qwase desist from signing performance agreements of staff members not directly under his control in terms of the OTP organogram;

● Titi be hauled before a disciplinary inquiry for her failure to manage the performance of MbangcoloMatshikwe;

● Titi be subjected to a training intervention in problem-solving, people management and empowerment; and

● The Performance Management Development System of the OTP had administrative deficiencies that needed to be addressed.

Masualle was granted a threemonth extension by the PSC to comply after saying he was in the dark about the grievance but apparently failed to do so until January 18, with the result that the PSC sent the report directly to Mbangcolo-Matshikwe. This in turn led Mbangcolo-Matshikwe to petition the portfolio committee on the OTP to hear the matter out in yesterday’s sitting.

Lonwabo Sophela of the legislature’s legal unit yesterday blasted Masualle for ignoring the PSC recommendations. “This is clearly a breach of the Public Service Act and the constitution.”

Yesterday Mbangcolo-Matshikwe claimed, among other things, that she had been “abused, threatened, intimidated and emotionally abused” by Titi since 2014. She also alleged that the provincial director-general, Marion Mbina-Mthembu, had told her the PSC recommended that she and Titi be separated and she be “removed from communications”.

But PSC commissioner Singata Mafanya denounced this as “a lie”.

Titi defended herself, saying she and Mbangcolo-Matshikwe had never seen eye to eye since their first encounter in 2014.

She further accused the aggrieved woman of underperformance and said her marketing and branding directorate was “dysfunctional”.

Titi added: “But I do not blame her because I think she was set up for failure because she never worked in marketing before joining the OTP since she came from a community radio station straight to the office of the premier.”

The EFF’s Siyabulela Peter asked committee chairman Sicelo Gqobana to summon Masualle, Mbina-Mthembu and Qwase to appear before the committee to account. All three were not in attendance but sent apologies.

Gqobana indicated that Titi, too, should appear before the committee to state her side of the story. —