Johannesburg - The Public Service Commission (PSC) has launched an independent investigation into allegations that its director-general Dr. Dovhani Mamphiswana appointed the mother of his love child as chief director for profession ethics.
The PSC announced on Wednesday that Johannesburg advocate Smanga Sethene would lead the independent probe into allegations against Mamphiswana.
According to the commission, Sethene was engaged by the Office of the State Attorney to investigate allegations of nepotism in the filling of the post of chief director: professional ethics.
The Sunday Independent reported that Mamphiswana allegedly refused to recuse himself from the October 2019 selection process which appointed the woman, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the seven-year-old child born out of wedlock.
She reportedly started in her job in December.
Sethene’s investigation follows calls by the DA that the PSC was supposed to be a bulwark against similar disgraceful, nepotistic and corrupt appointments in the public service.
"The commission is not ‘just another’ government agency – it is the watchdog over the entire public service and is supposed to enforce and abide by the absolute highest standards of ethics,” the official opposition said on Tuesday.
The DA said it was vital that the government acts immediately to protect the PSC from the damage unleashed through Mamphiswana’s alleged misdeeds.
Sethene recently represented former Free State economic development MEC Mxolisi Dukwana, who was once the ANC’s provincial treasurer, at the commission of inquiry probing state capture.
In the run-up to the governing party’s national conference in December 2017, Sethene also represented an ANC KwaZulu-Natal councillor axed for supporting the Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa.