Department ‘is double dealing’ with relocations
The rift between the Department of Mineral Resources and three disgruntled regional managers it wanted to shift to other provinces has deepened, with the regulatory body standing accused of double dealing in handling the dispute.
One of the concerns raised by people in the department was that the forced relocations were designed to put more pliable regional managers in place in Mpumalanga and KwaZuluNatal, where the Gupta family own or indirectly own various coal mines.
The purchase by the Gupta family’s Tegeta of the Optimum colliery in Mpumalanga was shrouded in allegations of corruption. The owner, global miner and commodities trader Glencore, ran into an obstructive Eskom on its coal supply contract and the mine was put into business rescue, preparing the way for its purchase by Tegeta.
According to the latest papers filed in the Labour Court, the department has filed an application for a ruling that the three managers from KwaZuluNatal, Mpumalanga and Limpopo opposing their relocation had breached a rule by failing to deliver an amended or varied affidavit within a prescribed time frame.
Aubrey Tshivhandekano, the suspended Mpumalanga manager who has now officially been charged by the department, argued on behalf of all three, saying the department’s application was aimed at sidestepping their review application brought in April.
“I shall demonstrate that in launching this application, the department is not bona fide and that its application is an attempt to avoid dealing with the merits of the application,” Tshivhandekano said.
HEAD WOUNDS
The delay in filing an amended affidavit or a notice that they stood by their notice of motion within three-and-a-half months was because of an attack on Aaron Kharivhe, Limpopo’s regional manager, as well as his own multiple suspensions from his job in Mpumalanga, he said. Kharivhe had to be hospitalised with serious head wounds.
Nqobile Khanyile, the KwaZulu-Natal manager, and Kharivhe had been summoned by the director-general, Thabo Mokoena, for talks in October to find a settlement. This resulted in “an in-principle agreement regarding reaching amicable settlement”, with the department’s legal head facilitating the agreement, he said.
“While awaiting the settlement proposal, and to our surprise, our attorneys received the notice of an application … to dismiss the review application,” Tshivhandekano said.
In its dismissal application, the department said the rotation of managers was motivated by the need to “prevent perceptions of irregularities and unbecoming behaviour, and as a measure to guard against corruption”.
A decision was taken by the department in March 2017 to move the regional managers overseeing the provincal offices in Limpopo, Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal, Northern Cape, Free State and Eastern Cape.
Apart from the three regional managers who had brought the matter to the Labour Court, arguing that there was insufficient consultation and little reason to move them, all the other regional managers had taken up their new positions, the department said.
THE DELAY IN FILING AN AMENDED AFFIDAVIT WAS BECAUSE OF AN ATTACK A DECISION WAS TAKEN BY THE DEPARTMENT IN MARCH TO MOVE THE MANAGERS