Mkhwebane drops aide over qualifications doubt
● Public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane has quietly withdrawn the appointment of her chief of staff, claiming she could not prove that she was qualified for the job.
On Thursday, a day after Mkhwebane’s spokesman, Oupa Segalwe, insisted to the Sunday Times that Linda Molelekoa was qualified, Mkhwebane removed her.
Molelekoa had failed to produce the academic qualifications required for the job.
The Sunday Times was told last week that Mkhwebane had appointed Molelekoa to the R1.2-million-a-year job. At the time, Segalwe also said she was qualified.
Responding by SMS yesterday, Molelekoa referred all questions to her office.
However, Segalwe confirmed Mkhwebane had withdrawn Molelekoa’s secondment, saying she would continue in the job in an acting capacity, and had undertaken to provide a copy of her educational certificate.
Molelekoa’s appointment is the latest in a series of controversies to have hit the public protector’s office since Mkhwebane took office in October 2016.
In one of these, a court ruled against her recommendation that parliament amend the constitution to change the Reserve Bank’s mandate.
She was also accused of shielding influential politicians in her investigation of the Gupta-linked Vrede dairy farm project in the Free State.
Mkhwebane appointed Molelekoa as her chief of staff on April 1 at the salary of a chief director, which generally requires an undergraduate qualification.
The Sunday Times has seen the letter in which Mkhwebane wrote: “It has come to my attention that in exercising my prerogative to appoint and/or second staff to the office of the public protector there are factors that must be taken into consideration.
“One of those is the requirements of the
post an employee is appointed or seconded to. One of the requirements of the position of chief of staff, which is level 14, is that the incumbent of this position must have a qualification.”
Mkhwebane referred to Molelekoa’s appointment letter, stating that the appointment was subject to Molelekoa’s academic qualifications being verified by the relevant quality assurance authorities.
“Since you cannot produce the abovementioned qualification, you do not meet one of the critical requirements of the post. Your secondment to the position of chief of staff is therefore withdrawn with effect from 31 May 2018.”
In justifying the appointment, Segalwe told the Sunday Times last week that Molelekoa possessed a secretarial diploma, paralegal training and had acted as chief of staff for 17 months before the appointment.
He said she had served in middle management between 2009 and 2016 and had obtained a basic secretarial diploma at the Business Skills and Development Centre in Cape Town in 1988. It is not known if it was this qualification that Molelekoa failed to produce.
Whistleblowers in Mkhwebane’s office also revealed that she appointed Sibusiso Nyembe as a special adviser for three months. Nyembe, who was also appointed at chief director level, advises Mkhwebane on current affairs and sociopolitical and legal issues, according to Segalwe.
Segalwe said the public protector had the prerogative to make executive appointments without following normal processes.