An uproar has erupted in the department of employment & labour after a senior employee accused in an internal disciplinary hearing of misconduct was appointed acting chief director for legal services.
Fikiswa Mncanca-Bede, chief director for statutory and advocacy services, also faces a fraud allegation in a separate probe being handled by the Public Service Commission for allegedly submitting fraudulent travel expense claims.
Mncanca-Bede was appointed to fill the vacancy on an acting basis, leading to two public service unions and a concerned group of officials in the department raising objections.
The concerned officials handed a three-page complaint to the office of employment & labour minister Thulas Nxesi on May 12 demanding his intervention.
The two unions, the Public Servants Association of South Africa (PSA) and the National Union of Public Services & Allied Workers (Nupsaw), wrote to employment & labour director-general Thobile Lamati raising objections over Mncanca-Bede’s appointment and the possible conflict.
The Sunday Times has learnt that Mncanca-Bede is having a disciplinary hearing in connection with suspected irregular appointments of two inspectors after she apparently instructed another employee to hand-deliver an external candidate’s application.
Mncanca-Bede is accused of shortlisting an applicant while a Z83 government application form was incomplete. She was the chair of the shortlisting committee for the post.
She’s also accused of amending requirements for the post of occupational health and safety inspector, which led to the suspected irregular appointment of a candidate.
Approached for comment on Friday, Mncanca-Bede referred questions to the department.
Spokesperson Teboho Thejane declined to comment, saying said the department handled employee matters “through internal processes and procedures”.
In another investigation, which the department referred to the Public Service Commission in December last year, Mncanca-Bede is being probed after allegations against her were raised via the anti-corruption hotline.
Mncanca-Bede is accused of fraudulent travel claims after she allegedly travelled to Polokwane on an official trip in December 2021 using a Toyota Corolla but filed claims that she had used a Porsche Cayenne SUV, which increased the rates for the kilometres travelled.
According to a referral letter to the commission written by Lamati, which the Sunday Times has seen, Mncanca-Bede is also alleged to have travelled to Durban after being offered a lift by a colleague and on return lodged a claim to be reimbursed for toll gate payments and kilometres clocked up, submitting an affidavit that she lost her toll gate receipts.
The whistle-blower further alleged that Mncanca-Bede had colluded with a Klerksdorp guest lodge to overcharge the department R340 extra per person in April for 40 officials booked into the lodge and requested that the variance be paid to her.
The guest lodge apparently charged the department R1,440 per person while its normal rates were R1,100 at the time.
When the Sunday Times called the guest lodge to ask about its rates on Friday, a woman who answered the phone said their rates were R1,250 a night.
The Sunday Times has seen the letters from Nupsaw and the PSA to Lamati, sent via e-mail on June 5 and June 6 respectively.
Nupsaw general secretary Solly Malema wrote: “We find it hard to understand, let alone accept, how this appointment happened considering the fact that matters [concerning] the discipline of officials are referred to and overseen by the legal services and yet the chief director who is being disciplined for gross misconduct and dishonesty heads the same unit.”
Since Monday, we've been making follow-ups... we will continue to engage until this matter is resolved in a proper manner
— Solly Malema, Nupsaw general secretary
Malema told the Sunday Times that all they received was an acknowledgment of receipt of their letter by Lamati’s office.
“Since Monday, we’ve been making follow-ups... we will continue to engage until this matter is resolved in a proper manner.”
Malema said the union was considering other options; “if needs be we will embark on pickets at their offices, but we’re still engaging our members”.
The PSA wrote that Mncanca-Bede’s appointment “raises serious conflict in respect to her own disciplinary hearing that is handled by the same department”.
PSA acting general manager Madelain Müller asked that Mncanca-Bede’s appointment be reversed due to the allegations levelled against her.
A letter delivered to Nxesi two months ago by the concerned group of officials raised concerns of a likelihood of interference by Mncanca-Bede in the running of her disciplinary matter which was overseen by the unit she has been hired to head.
“We are certain that important stakeholders of legal services have lost faith in their ability to testify freely without any prejudice in the hearing of Ms Bede, when she’s heading legal services,” read the letter.
The group demanded that Mncanca-Bede be removed “with immediate effect” and that the position be filled as it had been advertised in January.
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