The eThekwini municipality’s embattled health department head, Nomakhosi Gxagxisa, is out of her job for now, pending the outcome of a meeting to be convened by the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) later this month.
An acting department head is expected to be announced this week.
Controversy arose after it was discovered that the municipality had employed Gxagxisa although she was not registered with the council, as is required for the post.
In July, the local government bargaining council gave the city three months to fix its blunder in employing Gxagxisa. Deputy health and social services manager Musa Gumede told The Mercury that Gxagxisa had been reassigned to the office of the deputy city manager.
“We will review this at the end of the month, pending a meeting of the HPCSA. An acting head will be announced on Monday (today),” he said.
This comes after the SA Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) claimed that the matter of Gxagxisa’s appointment had dragged on for too long and vowed to pursue the issue until the municipality had corrected the error.
Gxagxisa had also been accused of nepotism for employing her son Nceba, in a post unions said was “created out of thin air”.
Nceba had been appointed to one of three principal clerks’ posts in the health department, headed by his mother. Unionists called for an investigation into his appointment and accused the elder Gxagxisa of nepotism. They said the posts had not been approved by the local labour forum, comprising union and city representatives, and should not have been filled.
Nceba’s post was subsequently terminated in October last year, after he failed to produce the qualifications required for the job.
However, Gumede said the decision to reassign Gxagxisa was not related to any allegations levelled against her.
“This is not related to any allegations made against her and the reassignment is to comply with the arbitration award and is not a demotion,” he said.
Gumede said the municipality could not discuss personnel matters in the media.
Samwu KwaZulu-Natal secretary Jaycee Ncanana said the union had told the municipality about two weeks ago that Gxagxisa “should not come to work” until a decision had been made by the health professions council.
“We told the employer (eThekwini) to either suspend Gxagxisa or put her on special leave, but we have not received a response in that regard,” he said.
Gxagxisa could not be reached for comment. - The Mercury