Muthambi favourite sacked from GCIS

● The former acting head of government communications, Donald Liphoko, has been given the boot over a hiring transgression from three years ago.

Liphoko, who was close to former minister of communications Faith Muthambi, was shown the door last month.

“I can confirm that Mr Liphoko is no longer employed by GCIS,” said Willie Baloyi, speaking on behalf of the Government Communication & Information System.

“His employment was terminated after a disciplinary process. As far as the charges are concerned, that is an internal labour matter I cannot disclose.”

Diphoko confirmed he had been dismissed but declined to comment further. “I’ve been fired, I’m out of a job. I have got nothing to say,” he said.

A source close to the matter said Liphoko’s disciplinary hearing arose from an interview panel he chaired three years ago that was tasked with interviewing and selecting the head of human resources at the communications department.

The person who was eventually selected did not fully meet the requirement of eight years’ experience stipulated for a senior manager at that level.

“The person they appointed as the head of HR, when they did the interview she had seven years’ experience and the post required eight years,” the source said. “Effectively that wouldn’t have qualified her to be interviewed.”

Liphoko’s disciplinary hearing started when Ayanda Dlodlo was minister of communications and continued during the brief period that Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane held the post.

Some within the department are said to have opposed the dismissal of Liphoko, but the current minister, Nomvula Mokonyane, appointed in the February reshuffle, endorsed it.

Liphoko was viewed in the government as an enforcer during Muthambi’s “reign of terror” at the department of communications.

Muthambi promoted Liphoko in 2015, moving him from chief director to acting director-general, and in the process demoting Phumla Williams.

Muthambi and Williams had a rocky relationship, as Williams spelt out in her evidence to the Zondo commission of inquiry into state capture.

Muthambi demoted Williams from acting director-general to deputy director-general and forced her to pay back R35,000 of her salary.

Williams told the inquiry that the treatment she received at the hands of Muthambi made her feel as if she was being tortured all over again, as she was by apartheid police. “Muthambi … was cheating the state,” Williams said. “She wanted to steal at all costs.”

Muthambi has denied the allegations, calling Williams a “shameful manipulator and a liar”.