Water committee 'alarmed' by DG's suspension
18 July 2017
Cape Town – Parliament's portfolio committee on water and sanitation is "alarmed" by the suspension of the department's director general Dan Mashitisho.
"The suspension of the DG brings to five the number of senior management services members suspended at the department, which does not bode well for corporate governance at the department," committee chairperson Mlungisi Johnson said on Monday.
"The achievement of performance targets will also be at risk with so many drivers of the department's strategy on suspension."
The committee did not want to pre-empt internal investigations by the department, but felt the current state of affairs was undesirable.
Johnson called for urgent finalisation of all disciplinary processes involving senior managers at the department, and would hold talks with the department and minister.
City Press reported on Sunday that Water and Sanitation Minister Nomvula Mokonyane suspended Mashitisho after barely six months on the job.He is accused of allegedly failing to appear before the portfolio committee on June 7, casting the minister's integrity in poor light in parliamentary meetings, failing to finalise investigations into various department tenders, and failing to prepare for a meeting with Treasury last month.
Mashitisho replaced Margaret-Anne Diedricks, who resigned in July last year, after she too had a fall-out with Mokonyane.
The portfolio committee learnt with surprise, in a parliamentary meeting in June, that multiple deputy directors-general had been placed on suspension under fast-tracked circumstances.
MPs were not happy, and demanded the suspensions be made formal and follow due process.
In June, Mokonyane disbanded the leaderships of the Overberg and Umgeni water boards.
