Officials want court to set aside scholar transport ‘jobs for pals’ finding

The report by the PSC is subject to judicial review. It is now before the high court in Makhanda

Scholar transport officials implicated in a damning Public Service Commission report relating to irregular appointments are challenging the findings in court.

The PSC probe found that former transport MEC Weziwe Tikana-gxothiwe and other top officials promoted unqualified and inexperienced staff to senior positions.

Some of the posts allegedly filled irregularly were never advertised.

The November 2019 report implicated seven officials from the scholar transport programme.

The PSC report ordered the department to approach the courts to set aside and reverse the appointments.

It also instructed the implicated officials to repay the money they received as salaries, saying their appointments amounted to irregular expenditure.

Provincial transport department spokesperson Unathi Binqose said five of the scholar transport officials implicated in the report were still employed by the department’s scholar transport programme, of whom three were now on precautionary suspension.

The remaining two officials were no longer with the department — one was fired and the other resigned.

“They [suspended and fired employees] were found to be on the wrong side of the administrative policies.”

Binqose said all the identified officials had gone to court to fight the report.

“The report by the PSC is subject to judicial review.

“It is now before the high court in Makhanda.”

The next hearing is scheduled for January 19.

Binqose said the timeline of the suspensions varied.

Declaring the appointments irregular, as the report found, was premature at this stage.

“Yes, it’s the findings of the Public Service Commission, but until the matter is decided by the court, we cannot refer to them as irregular appointments.”

Though the report called the appointments irregular expenditure, Binqose said that because the court battle had not been concluded, it was difficult to comment on the expenses incurred by the department because the officials might well have been fairly employed.

The report had painted a grim picture of what appeared to be a “jobs for pals” scandal.

Tikana-gxothiwe’s personal assistant, Nosiphiwo Somdyala, was appointed in June 2014 and the next year became acting scholar transport director.

Later she was permanently employed in the position.

The probe found that Somdyala was an inexperienced staffer without the qualifications required for the director position.

The PSC advised that disciplinary steps be taken against the selection committee for allegedly flouting processes and the officials who supported the appointment.

The report found that Somdyala’s appointment amounted to irregular expenditure and recommended that the expenses incurred be recovered.

It further recommended she go back to her original post as secretary, saying “the terms and conditions of placing Somdyala at the scholar transport programme [should be] be nullified since this was in contravention of her contractual agreement”.

The report added: “Persal [personnel and salary] records and other documentation should comply with the original contractual agreement, which she signed when she took the position of personal assistant in the MEC’S office.”

The probe also lifted the lid on another allegedly irregular appointment: that of Thulisa Sonjani.

Sonjani joined the department as an intern in 2014, and was promoted to assistant director the following year.

Sonjani, too, did not have the qualifications required for the position.

The report said the selection committee did not commit itself to the requirements of the advertisement.

“In this instance, the committee deviated from directives,” it said.

The department was ordered to set aside her appointment through court processes.

Binqose said the department was pulling out all the stops to tackle the challenges faced by the scholar transport system in the province.

“The challenges are being dealt with, and with the urgency that they deserve.

“And the department is encouraged by the steady progress that is being made there so far.”