NEHAWU CONCERNED ABOUT THE CRISIS AT THE DEPARTMENT OF WATER AFFAIRS
NEHAWU is concerned about the lack of decisiveness and sense of urgency in resolving the unacceptable and chaotic situation that currently exists in the Department of Water Affairs. The department of Water Affairs is facing a serious crisis because over the last couple of years there has been a high turnover of senior managers including a minister that was reshuffled.
What is disconcerting for us, is that the new minister of Water Affairs, Edna Molewa has so far failed to demonstrate firstly, that she understands the gravity of the situation and also that she has a strategy to arrest the rot and rescue the situation.
Our union is behind the efforts to root out corruption and we want action taken against anyone found to have committed any act of corruption but it is not going to help to have a minister who does not understand what is going on.
The ill conceived recruitment strategy where thousands of job seekers were invited for interviews without any selection process done is the latest in line of shambolic decisions by that department.NEHAWU has consistently complained about poor contract management, lack of transformation and the poor configuration of the department budget in relation to the department structures.
The poor management of the trading account, poor billing system and inefficient debt collection systems are clear signs that the Minister has failed to reverse her predecessors' shortcomings. This is deeply worrying because the department is in charge of one of the scarcest resource (water) in this country and whose management will have a big impact in the future economy and stability of this country.
It is also in charge of addressing and sorting out the biggest crisis facing the country's economic hub of Johannesburg the acid mine drainage.
We call on the cabinet to make available the outcome of the performance assessment of the minister because we as taxpayers were told that ministers will sign a performance agreement and we deserve to know.
SUSPENSION OF Ms NGELE
NEHAWU is calling for an immediate reinstatement of former Acting Director General, Ms Nobubele Ngele because the union is still not clear as to why she remains suspended even after the Auditor General ‘s report stated clearly that there was no embezzlement of funds, fruitless expenditure and/or tender rigging. The report continues to say "The employee must give an explanation as to why she took those decisions?"
The Auditor - General conducted an investigation around former Director General Pam Yako and he released a report in March 2010 that led to her suspension. Ms Ngele was asked to take over as an Acting Director General and inherited a department that was fraught with inherent systemic problems. Ms Ngele made the minister aware about the Arivia.Kom contract but the minister was reluctant to reverse the decisions of her predecessor. This resulted in Ms Ngele being charged with:
- Approval of the extension of Arivia. Kom contract.
- Inadequate oversight over reporting and compliance with procedures and processes.
- Approval of variation for the implementation of financial management improvement plan.
Ms Ngele took those decisions based on Section 38 of the Public Finance Management Act (Act 1 of 1999) which confers certain powers by virtue of her position. We are also curious as to why it took so long {15 months} after the release of the report for the minister to suspend her instead of following the recommendations of the Auditor -General.
The Minister's failure to apply her mind before she could prefer charges against Ms Ngele makes us suspect that the minister either did not read the Auditor -General's report therefore is ill-informed or acted out of malice.
Statement issued by Sizwe Pamla, NEHAWU Media Liaison Officer, April 18 2011
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