Warring Bhisho officials given warnings

170827mbananga2-(1)fi
170827mbananga2-(1)fi
Two senior communication bosses at premier Phumulo Masualle’s office have been slapped with final written warnings after they were recently found guilty of bringing the province’s top office into disrepute.

Masualle’s spokesman Sonwabo Mbananga and provincial communications general manager Mandisa Titi were both found guilty of misconduct for last year’s incident when a junior staff member had to separate them from physically fighting – just outside the door of a boardroom where Masualle was addressing stakeholders on the province’s plans to fight gender-based violence.

The final written warnings come after a disciplinary inquiry into their public conduct during a Women’s Month celebration event at Lusikisiki Training College on August 25, was completed recently.

The letters warned them that should a similar incident between them occur again, they would immediately face losing their lucrative more than R1-million per year jobs, sources close to the matter have confirmed.

Masualle’s special advisor, Sithembele Mase, whom Mbananga reports to, yesterday confirmed he had received a letter meant for Mbananga.

“Yes I can confirm that I have received such a letter from those who were assigned to probe the alleged public conflict between the two.

“I have not yet handed it over to Sonwabo as I tried to no avail to get hold of him today .

“However, I will be reading it to him and signing it before I hand it over to him on Monday,” Mase said.

He refused to divulge details about the contents of the letter, saying it would be “wrong and unethical” to do so before discussing it with Mbananga.

Titi’s immediate boss and OTP’s deputy director-general Mahlubandile Qwase, could not be reached for comment at the time of writing yesterday.

However, he had previously told the Dispatch “government policy does not allow that human resources and labour relations matters between the employer and the employee be discussed in public”.

Both Titi and Mbananga could not be reached for comment yesterday.

However, director-general Marion Mbina-Mthembu had previously banned both of them from publicly speaking about the matter. In a letter seen by the Saturday Dispatch, dated September 4, to both Titi and Mbananga, Mbina-Mthembu described the August 25 incident as a “public alteration” which constituted a “possible misconduct”.

At the time, Mbina-Mthembu, who also could not be reached yesterday, said their actions had dragged the name of the OTP and Masualle into disrepute.

Days after the Lusikisiki incident, the two officials told the Dispatch that they were not on speaking terms.

They both blamed “professional jealousy” for the ongoing conflict between them.

Sources at OTP yesterday said the two were still constantly at each other’s throats. — asandan@dispatch.co.za

subscribe

Would you like to comment on this article?
Register (it's quick and free) or sign in now.

Speech Bubbles

Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.