Official fired for hiring baby’s mother

Disgraced Public Service Commission (PSC) director-general Dovhani Mamphiswana has been fired after an investigation revealed that he hired the mother of his child as a director at the entity.

In August, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that Mamphiswana was on precautionary suspension, following the investigation.

Advocate Smanga Sethene was appointed by the Office of the State Attorney to investigate reports that Mamphiswana had illegally appointed the mother of his child, Boitumelo Mogwe, as chief director for professional ethics in December 2019.

Sethene found the appointment of Mogwe was the result of “nepotism, deceit, dishonesty, corruption and fraud”.

Yesterday, Kamogelo Mogotsi, spokeswoman for Public Service and Administration Minister Senzo Mchunu, confirmed Mamphiswana’s axing.

“The sanction stemming from the disciplinary process against the director-general [DG] has been pronounced and the minister has communicated same to the DG and the chair [of the disciplinary committee]. The DG has received a letter advising [ him] of his dismissal,” she said.

Democratic Alliance MP and public service spokesman Leon Schreiber said now that Mamphiswana has been fired, they will initiate a process to “get him behind bars”.

“We nonetheless welcome reports that Mamphiswana was ‘seen escorted by security guards’ out of the PSC headquarters last week. And now we will continue the fight to ensure that he gets escorted to the nearest jail cell,” he said. –