Mabulala’s sister still moonlighting in SA?
tained in the 2019 report presented in 2020.
“The officer also appeared before the Hon. committee where she claimed that she was willing to return to the country, but there were still outstanding issues that needed to be resolved, even though she did not specify them. She alleged that she was badly treated by officers from the Ministry of Public Service when she returned home and ended up going back to South Africa where she has been working at the University of Limpopo,” reads the report.
A questionnaire was sent to Dr. Rejoice with a purpose to establish if she was still moonlighting between the two employments and she did not commit herself, but referred the publication to the PS in the Ministry of ICT.
When pressed to respond directly to the question of whether she was still employed as alleged by sources at the ministry, she still refused to commit to a response.
“May I kindly request you to contact the relevant authorities, particularly the office of the PS; I am sure he should be in a position to assist with all questions,” she said briefly.
ICT PS Dube said Dr. Rejoice was reinstated after former PS Maxwell Masuku made recommendations to the CSC to drop all the charges laid against her. Dube said the CSC then communicated the developments as per the procedure.
He said they had sent a communication to the CSC to seek clarity on some of the issues and they were yet to get a response.
“I know that some of the issues were not totally solved and we have since written to the CSC and requested clarity on them. But one can confirm that Dr. Maseko (Rejoice) was reinstated as per the recommendation from the ministry and she is back at work as we speak,” he said.
Dube was challenged to give clarity on whether the minister’s sister was still employed in South Africa or not and he said as far as he knew, she was employed by Eswatini Government as director in the Ministry of ICT.
“Look, we are aware that she is the minister’s sister and we are also aware that she was employed as a civil servant way before the minister was made minister. I cannot address issues that I cannot prove, but yes we have asked for clarity on certain issues and I would request that you come to my office on Monday so that I can give the detail of what we needed clarity on,” said Dube.
CSC Executive Secretary Dr. Amos Ngwenya said if it could be proven that Dr. Rejoice is employed somewhere else yet she still maintained her job as a civil servant it would be a problem.
Ngwenya said Government General Orders did not allow civil servants to have another gainful employment while working for the government. He said he believed that the issue was dealt with and the PS withdrew the letter of charges he had sent to the CSC, prompting the commission to drop the charges.
REQUESTED
“If what you are saying is true, then the issue is a very serious one, but as far as I know, the matter was dealt with and we duly advised that she be reinstated after the PS requested to withdraw the letter charging her. There are laws in place and where there is need, the CSC will apply itself accordingly,” he said.
Minister Mabulala, as the incumbent Minister of Public Service, requested not to comment and said he was conflicted since the subject was his sister. He referred all comments to the
ministry’s PS Sipho Tsabedze.
“I have seen your questions and I believe it would be irregular for me to comment on the issue since I am conflicted. May I request that you contact the PS for any comment related to the ministry,” said Mabulala.
When questioned on whether there was any influence from the relation he had with her which could have overlapped professional boundaries, the minister said he was not aware of any and he would not have entertained it in anyway.
“I don’t know how I got involved in all this and I wish people would stop mentioning my name because I was not even here when the matter was raised,” he said.
PS Tsabedze said the ministry was aware of the matter but not directly involved in dealing with it.
“As far as I know, the matter was being dealt with and I might not have the intricate details of how it turned out. Having said that, two things stand out for me; that the minister was not minister when it all started and that the officer you are referring to was a civil servant way before the minister became a politician. However, no civil servant is supposed to be on another gainful employment while maintaining his or her job with government. The law is clear on that and we believe the relevant ministry will address it properly if it is true,” he said.
The AG’s findings revealed that the ministry wrote several letters to the officer regarding her absence from duty, but she never showed up to discuss the matter. In the end the ministry sought and was granted authority by the CSC to stop her salary effective November 2019.
“This was meant to coerce her to come back to the country so that her matter could be discussed but she did not. The ministry set up an internal committee to investigate the matter but, after reading its recommendations, the attorney general advised that a new committee be set. The ministry has duly done so,” responded the ministry to queries raised by the AG.