Nxesi criticises D-G for bypassing him in complaint

PUBLIC Works Minister Thulas Nxesi has fired a broadside at his directorgeneral and the Public Service Commission’s (PSC) provisional report on the findings against a senior official in the department.

In a submission to the PSC, to be discussed in a meeting with the standing committee on public accounts in Parliament (Scopa),

Nxesi accused his director-general, Sam Vukela, of bypassing him when he reported the employment of the official.

The submission, which Independent Media has seen, also takes a swipe at the findings of the PSC in the provisional report saying the findings were baseless and contradicted certain provisions of the law.

Nxesi has also blasted the PSC for refusing to investigate 680 people hired after Vukela was appointed and accused the commission of demanding R12 million upfront payment before launching the probe.

The PSC had found that the employment of the official was irregular after Vukela had lodged a complaint with the commission.

But Nxesi stated in the submission that Vukela should have gone to him first before reporting the matter to the PSC. He accused Vukela of being a referee and player in that he was a complainant but also gave evidence as the accounting officer.

“It is common cause that the grievance or complaint regarding the secondment of Mr (Cox) Mokgoro was referred to the PSC by among others the director-general of the Department of Public Works, Mr Vukela. On proper reading of rule 7 referred to above, before a grievance can be referred to the PSC it must first be referred to the minister as the executive authority. Should the minister fail to deal with such a grievance or complaint it is only then that the complaint can be ripe for referral to the PSC,” states Nxesi in his submission.

Nxesi further states that when Vukela was deputy director-general for Corporate Services he had recommended the secondment of Mokgoro to the department.

This was before Nxesi took over as minister and at the time Nathi Nhleko was public works minister.

He said the report of the PSC was silent on the role played by other officials in the hiring of Mokgoro, but only dealt with him.

Nxesi further stated there was no breach of the law when Mokgoro was hired from his company to join the department as his company did not do business with the state.

Vukela declined to comment, saying the matter was under investigation. “The matter is under consideration by the PSC and Scopa. Let us await the outcome of those processes,” said Vukela.

The PSC also refused to comment and said it did not discuss its investigations in the media.

Scopa chairperson Themba Godi said yesterday the matter would be discussed at their meetings in the coming weeks.