Mabuyane gives Ndudane until end December to fix mess

Eastern Cape premier Oscar Mabuyane has given controversial administrator Siphokazi Ndudane until the end of December to sort out with her previous employer the mess surrounding her axing from the national department of agriculture, forestry & fisheries (Daff).

Ndudane, who was deputy director-general for fisheries management until last Friday, was this week unveiled by Mabuyane as the province's new accounting officer for the department of rural development and agrarian reform.

Her appointment came just five days after she had been axed by her previous employer for the theft of three tons of abalone valued at R7m, with Mabuyane on Thursday saying he was not aware of any disciplinary processes and the subsequent axing of Ndudane when he appointed her recently.

Ndudane has denied such allegations.

In a statement, Mabuyane's spokesperson Mvusiwekhaya Sicwetsha said: “At the time when Miss Siphokazi Ndudane was appointed by the Eastern Cape provincial government she was not fired by her former employer and had not gone to the disciplinary hearing. She was on a protracted suspension. She voluntarily declared the suspension to the interviewing panel.

“The premier only got to know about the letter of her dismissal after she had been appointed to the position. Even the letter being paraded on social media was signed after she had been appointed by the Eastern Cape provincial government”.

Sicwetsha said now that the letter has come to the premier’s attention, he is interacting with Ndudane to deal with the matter between herself and her former employer.

“This means she has between now and the end of December 2019 to sort out and clear this issue, while the premier is also interacting with her former employer, Minister Thoko Didiza on this issue.

“The focus of that interaction is to first get the report of the outcomes of the disciplinary process initiated by her former employer. The premier is also engaging the legal team of the provincial government to look at the legal matters of this issue given the latest development,” said Sicwetsha.

Speaking to TimesLIVE this week, Ndudane said it was laughable that Daff director-general Mike Mlengana wrote her a dismissal letter when she had already resigned on November 12.

“On November 25 to 29, after the DG accepted my resignation, he decides to run a disciplinary hearing, which he has been postponing since June 14 2018. I was not present in the hearing,” she said.

She threatened legal action against Mlengana and the department “to challenge the legality” of her dismissal as well as a “brazen disregard of the rule of law”.

asandan@dispatch.co.za