Apleni leaves soon to join Discovery Bank
Home affairs director-general Mkuseli Apleni will serve his last few days at the helm of the department before joining the soon-to-be-launched Discovery Bank in an executive role.
Home affairs minister Malusi Gigaba confirmed Apleni’s resignation during a media briefing on Monday.
Apleni will leave at the end of the month.
Gigaba spoke glowingly of Apleni’s leadership‚ saying that under his tenure the department had managed to achieve 89% of its targets‚ compared to 25% nine years ago. Apleni was appointed as director-general in April 2010. Gigaba will announce his acting replacement next week.
Apleni’s resignation came as a shock as he recently went to court to fight his suspension.
Former minister Hlengiwe Mkhize placed Apleni on precautionary suspension last year, citing gross misconduct.
Apleni argued Mkhize did not have the authority to suspend him and only the president possesses such powers. The court ruled in his favour.
Apleni had accused Mkhize of forcing him to settle cases against the department. One of these allegedly involved a company belonging to the former minister’s son.
Mkhize denied the allegations, labelling Apleni as “delusional”.
The Public Servants’ Association (PSA) has welcomed his resignation‚ saying he was unfit to head the department.
In a statement released on Monday, the trade union said it had little regard for him.
Tensions with Apleni came to a head in 2017 during a protracted court battle over a unilateral change of department working hours that forced employees to work on weekends.
“Apleni will unfortunately be remembered by the PSA for especially his unfair implementation of weekend working hours without compensation for employees of the department of home affairs.
“Apleni misused taxpayers’ money by dragging the PSA to every court‚ including the Constitutional Court, and still lost‚” PSA deputy general manager Tahir Maepa said.
Meanwhile‚ the DA said it would still hold Apleni accountable over the naturalisation of five Gupta family members‚ despite his resignation.
Apleni was director-general of home affairs when Gigaba approved the naturalisation of the controversial Gupta family which has been linked to massscale corruption in the country’s state institutions.
The party said the resignation was long overdue as Apleni’s tenure was characterised by disasters.
“During his tenure‚ he presided over a litany of disasters such as compromising national security when the Gupta wedding guests landed at the Waterkloof Air Force Base in 2013‚” the DA’s Haniff Hoosen said.