CARIEN DU PLESSIS
Former Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana got in a last dig by firing his suspended director-general, Black Management Forum (BMF) president Jimmy Manyi, before he himself was axed by President Jacob Zuma. On Friday Mdladlana claimed Manyi’s behaviour had amounted to “insubordination”. He suspended Manyi in July for reasons never made public. However, shortly before Manyi’s suspension, Norwegian ambassador Tor Christian Hildan complained to Mdladlana that Manyi had tried to conduct private business during an official meeting.
Manyi is challenging Mdladlana’s action and there are rumours that staff have been told he will be returning under the new minister, Mildred Oliphant.
Mdladlana told the Saturday Star that he effectively terminated Manyi’s contract last Friday.
”Manyi is going around saying charges have been dropped. That shows a lack of understanding of the law. He still has a case to answer. If he feels that he is innocent, let it be proved by the disciplinary hearing,” Mdladlana said.
Manyi survived efforts to unseat him as the BMF president because of “poor public conduct” thanks to political support from the likes of Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula, who said more black, young professionals were needed in the public sector.
DA MP and labour spokesman Ian Ollis said on Friday he hoped the new Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant would resolve the matter as the department was still in “chaos” and the current acting director-general, Sam Moratoba, was not in a position to fix the various problems, which included an ineffective IT system and the compensation fund.
“My concern is that there might be questions around why the new minister was appointed. Was it to save the career of Manyi?” he asked.
Ollis said the protracted dispute between Mdladlana and Manyi had even affected the labour committee, where the infighting between the different interest groups in the department had manifested itself.
“It seems the new Minister of Labour will be stuck in a political logjam surrounding the position of her department head,” he said, adding that he had heard from within the department that Manyi was boasting he would return as director-general soon.
Labour portfolio committee chairwoman Lumka Yengeni refused to respond to queries due to a previous story that alluded to her false eyelashes.
“Write anything that you want to write,” she said.