The National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union [NEHAWU] in the North West is outraged and deeply disturbed by the reckless and scandalous appointment of a Chief Financial Officer at the North West Parks and Tourism Board currently on suspension for serious allegations of financial misconduct at Madibeng Local Municipality.

The CFO is currently out on bail for alleged corruption committed at another municipality. This appointment is not only an insult to the hard-working and law-abiding public servants of this province, but also a spit in the face of the residents who suffer daily under poor service delivery, collapsing infrastructure, and rampant maladministration.

What makes this appointment even more shameful is the fact that the very MEC presiding over the entity where this disgraceful individual has been appointed, previously served as a Mayor at the same municipality where this individual served as CFO and was allegedly involved in tender fraud. It is therefore no coincidence that this unholy alliance has now resurfaced to further loot and collapse yet another entity within our provincial administration.

NEHAWU has further established with great concern that this discredited CFO was the only candidate taken for a competency assessment- a flagrant violation of the entity’s recruitment and selection policy which requires at least three suitable candidates to undergo such assessments for transparency, fairness, and merit-based appointments. This brazen manipulation of process was clearly designed to engineer a pre-determined outcome in favour of a politically connected individual.

To make matters worse, we have reliably learnt that the said CFO was not subjected to the mandatory security vetting and screening processes- a crucial legal requirement for occupying such a critical senior management post within any public institution. This deliberate bypassing of established governance protocols represents a serious governance breach and exposes the department and the provincial government to enormous financial and reputational risks.

Moreover, NEHAWU has noted with disgust mounting allegations that this MEC has been turning the department and its entities into a personal employment agency for friends and family members. We are reliably informed of a growing pattern of irregular appointments, side-lining of qualified professionals, and the systematic purging of employees who refuse to toe the line of corruption and patronage. To this end, NEHAWU will be writing to the Public Service Commission (PSC) demanding a comprehensive investigation into all appointments made since the MEC assumed office- including at all public entities falling under the department’s control.

We refuse to allow the systematic hollowing out of state institutions to continue unchecked while workers are expected to deliver services under incompetent and politically connected managers. As NEHAWU, we demand:

• The immediate reversal of this disgraceful appointment.
• A full investigation by the Office of the Premier into the processes leading to this appointment.
• The suspension and investigation of the MEC for her continued abuse of public office for personal and factional gain.
• An urgent probe by the Public Service Commission into all appointments effected since the tenure of the MEC in the department and its associated entities.
• Intervention by law enforcement agencies, including the Hawks and the Special Investigating Unit (SIU), into the financial dealings of both the CFO and the MEC.

Failure to act decisively on this matter will leave us with no option but to mobilise our members and the broader working class for mass action against the department and those responsible for this rot.

The people of North West have suffered enough due to rampant corruption and maladministration. The working class must no longer be made to pay for the sins of the politically connected. We will not fold our arms while looters and their enablers run our province into the ground.

As NEHAWU, we remain committed to defending ethical governance, protecting public resources, and fighting for a capable and professional public service that serves the people- not the pockets of the politically connected elite.

END

Issued by NEHAWU North West Secretariat Office:

For more information, please contact: Zanele Lawu (Provincial Secretary) at 079 506 2503 or email: zanelelawu@gmail.com or Mpho Mohlala (Provincial Deputy Secretary) at 063 685 1931 or email: mphomo@nehawu.org.za