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Minister mired in controversy for blunders made over water boards and her task team
Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation Minister Lindiwe Sisulu has retreated from key ministerial decisions this week, the latest concerning the Sedibeng Water board in the Free State.
Just last week, Sedibeng Water board members lost their jobs after Sisulu wrote to them to say their term had come to a premature end.
But Sisulu did an about-turn this week, telling City Press that it had been a mistake to serve the dismissal letters in the middle of a national state of disaster.
The matter is now off the table.
Sisulu also withdrew another letter, dated April 15, which was leaked, in which she declared that her ministerial water services advisory group, known as the national rapid-response task team (NRRTT), would be dissolved.
This, she said, was because members had allegedly gone rogue and participated in corrupt activities.
It was also being falsely claimed, she said, that some members were raising funds for her campaign for the ANC presidency in 2022.
Critics pointed out that the legal reasons advanced for the dissolution of the water board members were flawed and unsustainable as it placed the validity of decisions made by the board since its appointment into question.
Also, board members were not called to make representations before the decision was made.
The reversed axing of the board members happened alongside Sisulu’s suspension of Vuyo Zitumane, chief executive officer of Amatola Water in the Eastern Cape, who is under investigation for maladministration.
Her suspension has brought to the fore a flurry of damning allegations that Sisulu’s aides had business interests in the running of water boards and sought to influence operational decisions.
Last weekend, Sisulu terminated the term of the Amatola Water board and placed the entity under administration.
Magalies Water, based in North West, is also hanging on by a thread, according to communication, seen by City Press, that was addressed to the department of water and sanitation’s acting director-general, Mbulelo Tshangana.
However, the department has told City Press that the Magalies Water board has not been dissolved.
How the Sedibeng board was dissolved
Letters dated April 26 – titled Appreciation of service as ordinary board member of the board of Sedibeng Water – were sent to the board members.
In them, Sisulu said their appointment by former minister Gugile Nkwinti, scheduled to run from May last year to April 2023, had to be terminated.
“It has come to my attention that the appointment of the board of Sedibeng Water was not rectified [sic] by the fifth Cabinet, hence I have decided to start the process of appointing a new board for Sedibeng Water afresh,” Sisulu wrote.
She said an instruction had already been issued to the department to immediately commence with the process of appointing a new board, adding: “It should be noted that your term of office will cease as of the end of April.”
But this week, the minister’s spokesperson, McIntosh Polela, said the letters had subsequently been withdrawn and that “they should not have been communicated to board members in the middle of a disaster”.
Asked why it had taken the minister more than a year to conclude that the legitimacy of the board could not be defended, Polela said: “The minister had to take her time in making a decision, in the interest of the organisation and the sector. We are not making any judgement on the professionalism of individual board members. On the contrary, they have done their jobs,” he said.
Internal documents showed that, by October, Sisulu had already decided to take to Cabinet “all boards that were not approved … to be regularised”.
According to a letter sent to Lepelle Northern Water in Limpopo, the minister wanted to have all the necessary information ready by the beginning of November.
Given that only eight out of the 10 Sedibeng Water board members received the termination letters – including one who had resigned – perceptions were that a purge was under way, said a board member, who spoke to City Press on condition of anonymity.
The person described the dissolution of the board as “collateral damage”, resulting from the fallout in the NRRTT – where the two representatives who had worked very well with the board, Mogomotsi Mogodiri and Lekgotla Dichoetlise, had been fired.
The NRRTT fallout
Sisulu had previously rejected allegations that her NRRTT advisory group for water services was a vehicle for patronage and corruption, and linked to alleged plans to lobby for her to become the ANC president in 2022.
But in a letter dated April 15, the minister sang a different tune, revealing that the NRRTT had seemingly gone rogue and the structure should therefore be dissolved.
She said the team had been conceptualised to respond to community needs related to service delivery – and the lack thereof – within the sector.
However, she added, it had come to her attention that “some people within the collective were meant to tarnish the image of the minister, the NRRTT and good governance”.
Read: Sisulu: Stop evictions and protect water supply
“These activities of these members left me with another perception: that some members joined the NRRTT to pursue business interests and/or easy wealth accumulation at the expense of the good cause,” she continued.
“I deliberately kept quiet when I realised some were purporting to drive the minister’s ‘campaign and ambitions for the 2022 national conference’ – these done without the knowledge of myself as the minister.”
Sisulu said that the people involved in these activities had gone around the country “soliciting deals and financial support”.
She said she was also pursuing criminal charges and that the NRRTT would be disbanded “with immediate effect.”
However, Polela this week denied that the group had been disbanded.
On April 17, according to communication shared on the NRRTT’s WhatsApp group, all members were instructed to cancel all their activities and attend a special video conference meeting “at the directive of the minister”.
During the meeting, an audio recording, which City Press has heard, was played in which members were told that they had “stabbed the minister in the back”, despite the efforts that she made to get them on board – and those guilty of misconduct were warned to voluntarily come forward and confess.
The case of Dichoetlise and Mogodiri
City Press has seen copies of letters sent by both Tshangana and Sisulu, leading to the dismissal of Dichoetlise.
Contained in the letters were two allegations: that Dichoetlise proposed service providers to a water board executive, and that he had illegally recorded telephone conversations with the minister.
In one of the WhatsApp communications between Sisulu and Dichoetlise, he tried to explain the telephone recordings, but the minister told him to “f*
Dichoetlise worked closely with Sedibeng Water as part of his NRRTT duties in the Free State.
He told City Press that his communication with the minister was a private matter. However, he denied recording her, saying his phone had an application that recorded all calls.
Those close to him said the allegations that he had proposed service providers to a water board chief executive were incorrect, adding that it was, in fact, the said official who made an offer to take companies from Dichoetlise.
A voice, said to be that of the official – whose name is known to City Press – can be heard in an audio recording confirming to Dichoetlise that the arrangement they had was “not fraud”.
Although it was not clear what charges were made against Mogodiri, City Press saw an email communication in which he was instructed to return the vehicle he used.
The instruction came just days after he was unceremoniously kicked out of the NRRTT’s WhatsApp group.
By April 13, the NRRTT already had new members, including former ANC MPs Duduzile Manana and Deborah Raphuti.
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