Transport suspends DDG

Insiders say it is because of Sisilana’s mishandling of Mthatha Airport

Transport DDG Lomex Sisilana has been suspended.

Neither Bhisho nor Sisilana would say what for, but insiders have told the Dispatch Mthatha Airport’s woes are among the reasons.

Sisilana said: “I don’t talk to the media about departmental matters. Please contact [the] communications unit.”

On Monday the department confirmed the suspension but refused to say why.

Transport spokesperson Khuselwa Rantjie said Sisilana was suspended with effect from February 7.

“We cannot get into the details of the reasons for his suspension as it is a matter between the employer and employee,” she said.

However, the Dispatch has reliably learnt that the department is unhappy with Sisilana’s handling of the Mthatha Airport, which has led to it being downgraded by the South African Civil Aviation Authority for safety reasons.

“He failed to appoint critical staff. He was given that responsibility long ago and now the downgrade is primarily because there is no capable staff to manage the airport. The servers are not working, everything is down there on ICT,” a source close to developments in the department said.

The Dispatch has reported extensively on problems at the airport, including the fact that it had inadequate firefighting services. Last month the CAA stopped all its flights. The issues with the airport prompted meetings between the department and CAA, but it is unclear what the outcomes were.

Last week the Dispatch reported that labour unions at the department were at loggerheads with MEC Weziwe Tikana over Sisilana’s appointment.

The unions have claimed that Sisilana was irregularly appointed in 2017, prompting the Public Service Commission to institute an investigation.

The department indicated to the Dispatch last week that it was aware of the investigation and was co-operating with the PSC and awaiting the outcomes of the probe.

Commenting on Sisilana’s suspension, Nehawu’s provincial co-ordinator at the department of transport, Mandla Wisani, said the union was not taking kindly to the current state of the department.

“We noted this when the ICT section was taken away from corporate services as the only section that directly reports to the office of the DDG.

“We started seeing servers crashing for periods amounting to a year in the department.

“Constant breakdowns of the internet and e-mails were [the] order of the day.

“The whole department functions on private e-mails.

“The department suffered data loss on his account when servers crashed and went through a blackout.

“Head office, Bulembu and Mthatha Airports were negatively affected by this thoughtless decision,” Wisani said.

We started seeing servers crashing for periods amounting to a year