Communications director-general Rosey Sekese was forced to approach the court to lift her “special leave” after she was twice locked out of her office. Police were called in to evict her from the building.
However, after an out-of-court settlement with Communications Minister Dina Pule, she was allowed to return to work.
Despite Sekese’s return, Pule is allegedly still referring to Gift Buthelezi, who was acting in her position, as the “acting director- general”, according to two top officials, who could not be named because they were not allowed to speak to the media.
The Sunday Independent has seen a letter to Buthelezi, a day after Sekese’s return, addressing him as “acting director-general” and delegating Sekese’s duties to him, which include strategic planning and staff structures. Buthelezi refused to comment.
One employee said that Sekese had “nothing to do in the office”.
“The department now has a DG and an acting DG. People are still going to her because she is the DG, but she does not have any responsibilities,” the employee said.
According to the employee, three people were suspended in the department last week. Candidates were also being interviewed for the chief financial officer vacancy, but Sekese had no knowledge of these processes.
Sekese has been in the office for the last two weeks. She was placed on special leave in December.
Communications spokesman Siya Qoza said the department needed more time to respond to queries.
Sekese refused to comment and referred all queries to her lawyer, Sandile July.
July confirmed that Sekese had approached the court to challenge her special leave. He said they considered the leave to be another form of suspension.
“The parties settled, which meant that Mrs Sekese must go back to her job. She is back in the department,” July said.
But The Sunday Independent understands that the drama started at the end of March, after Sekese had been on special leave for 60 days without any communication from the department.
July wrote to Pule’s office, saying Sekese no longer wanted to be on special leave. He argued that special leave had to be by agreement.
But when Sekese arrived at the office, she found that the locks on her door had been changed.
The department’s security threatened to evict her, and police were called to remove her from the office.
Sekese, according to the employee, showed the police the correspondence between her and the minister proving she was allowed to be in the office.
But the police sat with Sekese while her lawyers tried to intervene.
Her lawyers apparently reached an agreement with Pule’s office that she would be seconded to another department.
But Sekese would not accept the secondment and gave the department two days to withdraw the offer.
Apparently Pule would not budge, prompting Sekese to approach the Labour Court.
Last week, The Sunday Independent reported how Department of Water Affairs director-general Maxwell Sirenya was forcibly removed from the building by security after he refused to accept a suspension by Minister Edna Molewa.
Pule has not specified why Sekese was placed on special leave in December last year. - The Sunday Independent