Seems official made a scapegoat
REGARDING the shocking report of Faith Rapetsoa’s suspension (“IPTS director at home while work assessed”, July 10), this has nothing to do with her job performance.
This is a clear case of the NMB Municipality’s political head of roads and transport, Rano Kayser, shifting the blame for failure in his own job onto someone else. Rapetsoa has been made a scapegoat. Kayser has taken sides in a controversial matter in which at his level he should be impartial.
In all my years as a senior manager and as one as familiar with labour legislation as the next person, I have never heard of anyone being placed on special leave while his or her job performance is being assessed.
If there was reason to suspect fraud or theft or other criminal activity, yes, that is common practice, but not for incompetence, as is the allegation herein.
If incompetence was to be the case, there are well-defined disciplinary procedures that have to be followed.
In any such case the presence of the accused would be more beneficial to answer questions and the accused would be entitled to answer allegations.
But suspension in such a case can only be seen as victimisation.
Furthermore the supervising authority, in this case Kayser, seems in the dark about what the accused’s contractual responsibilities are, so the accused is sent home while management has to study her employment contract.
What rot. So who is really the incompetent herein?
But if one were to stand on the outside and look at this IPTS thing, of which Rapetsoa is the director, there can only be one self-evident contractual obligation that overrides all others and that is to get the IPTS, that has stalled for 10 years, working.
In that it can be said she has failed, yes, but not alone. Her bosses have also failed.
Head of infrastructure and engineering Walter Shaidi, under whom this has fallen since 2012, has also failed, and so have all mayors, councillors, officials and planners, past and present, who have had a hand in it one way or another.
And so has said supervising authority, Kayser.
He had in fact personally taken over responsibility to get the IPTS rolling, as is well documented in press reports since his election, and he has failed.
So is Rapetsoa the one to blame or is she being made the scapegoat?
Shouldn’t the political head also be placed on suspension, in his case for failing to recognise that he is taking sides and pushing a project riddled with controversy, that was poorly planned from the beginning?
Shouldn’t said project itself also be investigated?
I have attempted to unravel the controversy and this can be read on the website www.septua.co.za.
The real investigation therefore should not be into Rapetsoa’s competence, but on the wisdom of pushing a controversial project onto the commuting public, which is what the current IPTS efforts are really all about.