Nehawu is ‘outraged’ by HOD’S performance bonus

THE NATIONAL Education, Health and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu) branch in the Northern Cape Department of Sport, Arts and Culture is “outraged” after the head of department (HOD), Ruth Palm, was awarded a performance bonus by the department.

The union accused the department of turning a blind eye to alleged misconduct by Palm.

The union had previously accused Palm of “mischievously” returning to office after indicating that she had taken special leave to review a Public Protector’s report.

In the report, Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane called on the MEC for Sport, Arts and Culture, Bernice Sinxeve, to take appropriate remedial action against Palm after she was implicated in improper conduct and maladministration relating to public funds of the department and the Northern Cape Arts and Culture Council (NCACC).

According to the report, R1 million was paid to Traffic and Events Management Company (Traffic Events) for the Umsobomvu Youth Tourism and Cultural event that never took place. This payment was made after Palm apparently requested an amount of R1.6 million from the NCACC for the festival.

The branch chairperson of Nehawu in the department, Victor Modise, slammed the payment of the performance bonus.

“The annual salary of the HOD is about R1.4 million. If she received a performance bonus of five percent, that means she received a sum of R70 000. If it was 10%, then she walked away with an amount of R140 000. This is a person who was implicated in the maladministration of funds by the Public Protector. How come she can now be awarded with such money following the outcome of the report,” asked Modise.

He accused Palm of gunning for those workers who had called for her to be suspended.

“Nehawu marched to the Office of the Premier in February, requesting the premier to suspend Palm. It was during that march that we were informed that Palm was on special leave. During the lockdown, we surprisingly found out that she was back in office. We are not certain why she returned to the office as the entire country was under lockdown. She has now asked for the names of all those who marched to the Premier’s Office and has instructed the human resources (HR) office to institute salary deductions on those who were part of the march. Palm further instructed that the contract on Nehawu members who were part of the march be terminated, while the contracts of those who were not part of the march were renewed. This is clearly a sign that Palm is seeking revenge and destruction. We call on the premier to intervene in this matter as we cannot let such vengeance reign within the department,” said Modise.

Department spokesperson Conrad Fortune denied the allegations made by the union.

“The Department of Sport, Arts and Culture hereby confirms that the head of department has returned to work, given the fact that special leave was taken from March 1 until March 31, 2020. It must also be noted that the Public Protector’s report has been taken on review and the MEC for Sport, Arts and Culture responded to her what action she has taken within her scope of responsibilities and within the prescribed period. An investigation has been instituted against the NCACC. As with any contract employment, it has a start date and end date, and the contracts were not renewed and it is incorrect and misleading to say that the contracts were terminated. Furthermore, the information relayed to the media, indicating that there were salary cuts, are devoid of truth and no such transactions were processed by the department,” said Fortune.

He added that there was nothing “sinister” about Palm’s performance bonus.

“The head of department’s performance is assessed by the members of the executive council, after which it is presented to a performance evaluation committee that comprises of MECS from the departments. This process is co-ordinated by the Office of the Premier. Based on the outcome of the assessment by the performance evaluation committee and all portfolio evidence provided, the head of the department was awarded a performance bonus for the 2018/19 financial year,” Fortune explained.