It is hard to see how Sisisi Tolashe, the social development minister, can escape censure from President Cyril Ramaphosa and the National Assembly.
For the past few weeks, Tolashe has been making news for the wrong reasons. Unflattering revelations have included an attempt to appoint an underqualified and inexperienced young woman as her chief of staff. She was found to be related to Tolashe’s controversial adviser Ngoako Kgatla.
Thankfully, Tolashe’s colleague, Mzamo Buthelezi, the public service & administration minister, stopped this disaster.
It’s not the first time Buthelezi has had to stop a colleague from an inappropriate appointment. Last year, he stopped John Steenhuisen, the agriculture minister, from hiring Roman Cabanac as his chief of staff.
The more damning accusation against Tolashe is her defiance of a cabinet decision to appoint her director-general for one year. Instead of following the cabinet’s direction, Tolashe hired Peter Netshipale on a five-year contract. This would allow him to continue in the position beyond his retirement age.
In an answer to a parliamentary question about Netshipale’s contract, she misled the legislature; she suggested Netshipale had been appointed for a year, but there was a clerical mistake. She later had to walk that answer back.
In a shocking turn of events, she wrote to Netshipale last week, informing him of disciplinary action. She blamed him for bringing the ministry into disrepute. The implication was that appointments in the ministry were based on his advice.
This alone implies the minister couldn’t tell where her power starts and where it ends. As political heads, ministers have a free hand in appointing staff to ministries. These would typically include the choice of chiefs of staff and special advisers. Directors-general, on the other hand, oversee appointments in departments.
The department is facing litigation from sacked employees.
As president of the ANC Women’s League, Tolashe seems safe from outright dismissal from the cabinet. She brings an important constituency to Ramaphosa. This is more so considering that the ANC is just a month away from its highly anticipated National General Council (NGC) meeting.
Ramaphosa, who is having to juggle a smooth NGC with hosting a successful G20, would be reluctant to invite drama inside his party.
While she might be safe from a reshuffle, Tolashe cannot escape accountability to parliament. She should be held to account. Misleading parliament is a serious offence.
She may still backpedal on Netshipale’s contract by amending it to one year instead of five. However, she cannot spin away the fact that she had misled parliament.
Tolashe must be offered an opportunity by parliament to explain her motives in ignoring the cabinet’s decision. Was it an oversight, or did she really mean to second-guess the cabinet’s authority?
Parliament should call her before the ethics committee. Several ANC ministers have been sanctioned by the watchdog.
Tossing her director-general under the bus hardly qualifies as accountability.
Parliament should call her before the ethics committee. Several ANC ministers have been sanctioned by the watchdog.
During his first term as president, Ramaphosa has acted against errant ministers. He fired Nhlanhla Nene as finance minister for misleading a journalist about his interactions with the Gupta family.
During the Covid-19 lockdown, he suspended Stella Ndabeni, one of his political allies, for breaking restrictions. He fired Zwelini Mkhize as health minister for his association with a dodgy company contracted to the department of health.
Tolashe has given parliament the opportunity to demonstrate its role as an active body that holds the executive branch of government to account.
During years of state capture, the legislature appeared docile and inseparable from the executive. It took several court judgments to jolt it into action.
It can now remind Toalshe that ethics matter and that she should apply her mind to documents requiring her signature. Significantly, she should be reminded of the department’s role in cushioning South Africans against abject poverty.
Ramaphosa should take his cue from the ethics committee.
