The Gauteng Human Settlements Department is caught up in a storm after a senior official reopened a hiring process for a top post to suspiciously include employees who were previously disqualified.
Questions have been raised why the head of the department (HoD), Matilda Gasela, has reopened the process for filling the senior position of deputy director: internal communications, after the officials who presided over it had already shortlisted candidates.
It has emerged that two staffers who were disqualified for the post because they don’t qualify have forced Gasela to rerun the process.
According to documents The Star has seen, communications assistant director Gadushe Kondlo and corporate communications assistant director Boitumelo Setlhabi both applied but did not make the cut.
Communications specialist Mvusiwekhaya Sicwetsha, who chaired the interview panel, is considering an appeal to MEC Paul Mashatile regarding Gasela’s actions.
Sicwetsha, who has since resigned as the department’s chief director of communications services, wrote to Kondlo and Setlhabi on March 15 explaining why they had not been considered for the vacant post.
In the letter to Setlhabi, Sic-
wetsha said she had not been shortlisted because the panel was not satisfied she met the requirements for the position.
“Your training and experience is in graphic design and not on the primary fields of communications, marketing and public relations.”
In the advert, potential candidates were required to provide certified copies of qualifications and an ID, as well as a comprehensive CV, and applications had to be accompanied by a Z83 form.
It also stated that the successful candidate must have qualifications in marketing, corporate communications, public relations or associated disciplines.
Sicwetsha told Kondlo he had not been shortlisted for an interview because he did not submit all the required documentation.
“You didn’t attach certified copies of your qualifications; you didn’t attach a copy of your identity document; your application for this position was not accompanied by a requisite Z83 form.”
Sicwetsha said the other candidates who also failed to attach the required documents were also not shortlisted.
Kondlo lodged a grievance and “requested that his grievance should be escalated to Gasela for consideration and determination”.
He alleged that he was “sidelined, overlooked and denied an opportunity to sit for interview for the advertised post” despite the fact that he “qualifies and meets the requirement” for the post.
Without providing reasons, Gasela approved a recommendation that the recruitment be redone to effectively shortlist Setlhabi and Kondlo.
When contacted for comment, Sicwetsha said it was surprising that the whole recruitment process was being altered.
“I don’t know the reasons behind that; no one informed the panel when I was still there.”
He said one of the things he could do as an official who chaired the panel “is to appeal to the HoD to ignore the (HR) recommendation, because it is wrong, biased and unfair to other candidates” that they didn’t make the shortlist, because they either failed to submit all the support documents or didn’t have the skill set needed for the post.
“There are no grounds for re-
starting the process. Doing so would be unfair to more than 250 other applicants who were not shortlisted for a number of reasons, including the two mentioned above. If the HoD holds a different view, one would consider appealing to the MEC (Mashatile) to intervene,” said Sicwetsha.
Yesterday, Kondlo said: “I’m not authorised to speak on internal issues, therefore I can’t comment.”
On Monday, Gasela refused to speak and gave the phone to department spokesperson Keith Khoza. Khoza said the matter was handled by their HR department and that Gasela did not take any “independent decisions”.
He admitted that there was further information the pair should have submitted when applying for the post. In their submissions they said that as they are already employed by the department, they assumed it has copies of their qualifications. “HR said that because they are internal candidates, let’s include them in the shortlist,” said Khoza.
He said those who had been shortlisted would not be excluded “or be disadvantaged” as a result of the process being redone.
Khoza said he was yet to reconvene the interview panel. He would first have to find someone to chair it as Sicwetsha had since resigned.
“What transpired is that there are internal candidates who have lodged a grievance against the process as it unfolded. A grievance sitting was conducted, and a resolution reached, which the HoD, as an accounting officer, also pronounced on and ruled on the matter, leading to the process having to be resumed as per the order and sanction of the HoD,” he said.