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The Mpumalanga health department has spent about R7 million trying to fire three top officials.
The department’s case against two deputy directors-general and a human resources director appears to be a costly witch-hunt, which several sources said emanated from their refusal to approve dodgy deals.
Provincial head of department Dr Aggrey Morake initially suspended three directors-general – Dr Thokozani Mhlongo of district services, Victor Makhubedu of finance and Dr Jabu Dlamini of clinical services – in June last year on accusations that they caused the department to spend an extra R57 million it had not budgeted for.
Dlamini, who acted as department head before Morake was appointed, resigned immediately after being suspended. A few months later, Morake also suspended human resources director Maxwell Sithole.
However, Mhlongo and Makhubedu were charged for the first time two months ago for a different matter. They had spent the past year on suspension receiving a total of about R3 million in salaries.
They were charged for misconduct relating to the irregular appointments of three ward clerks and switchboard operators at Evander Hospital, while the department had advertised vacancies for two.
Morake charged the two directors-general after spending about R3.5 million on a forensic investigation into the irregular appointments of 1 062 staff members in April last year.
Investigators found that the officials were “grossly negligent” and “overcommitted” the department financially on the posts, which carry salaries of R230 000 a year.
Mpumalanga health spokesperson Dumisani Malamule would not respond to written questions about the discrepancies in charging the officials.
“The matter in question is subjudice. Therefore, the department cannot comment at this stage until the matter has been finalised,” Malamule said.
City Press understands that the department was still not ready to proceed with a disciplinary hearing when it was due to start on Thursday.
A director-general, who asked not to be named, said: “The department is looking for a needle in a haystack and ruining our careers. They suspended us for accruals, then couldn’t charge us for 12 months. It’s a witch-hunt because we refused to carry out verbal instructions.”
According to documents City Press has seen, Mhlongo and Makhubedu recommended that the extra clerk and switchboard operator could be employed because hospital CEO Nanana Hlatshwayo said the posts were vacant and had been budgeted for.
The department advertised two posts and received 148 applications. Interviews were conducted, 12 candidates were short-listed and five were found to be suitable.
Makhubedu recommended that the three ward clerks be employed on condition that they formed part of priority posts that had to be filled that financial year. Dlamini checked that the posts were on the priority list.
Former health MEC Candith Mashego-Dlamini approved the appointments after reading the recommendations and comments.
Malamule could not comment on whether action would be taken against Mashego-Dlamini, who is now the deputy minister of rural development and land reform, or against Hlatshwayo, who asked for the appointments.
Hlatshwayo also wrote to Dlamini recommending the hiring of three switchboard operators for the same reasons, posts for which 95 people applied.
Mashego-Dlamini also approved these appointments
