Johannesburg – A senior official at the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) is in hot water after she allegedly slapped two employees with letters ordering them to return to work instead of attending a portfolio committee meeting on Friday.
Parliament said it viewed the official's conduct as interfering in the work of a portfolio committee.
On Friday, higher education portfolio committee chairperson Philly Mapulane said he was not happy that chief operating officer Sibongile Mncwabe allegedly ordered two Nehawu members to report for duty.
Mapulane viewed Mncwabe's action as meaning the union members should not attend the portfolio meeting that was meant to receive a response from Nehawu and NSFAS on serious allegations made against the student bursary body.
"I am very unhappy about that situation. It does appear somebody is trying to manipulate attendance," he said.
"When we invite anybody to the committee, we don't want a situation where those people get threatened by the employer (and) that they must report for duty when the employer is aware those are supposed to be part of the delegation to see the committee.
"I don't know why Ms Mncwabe acted in that manner. It is a situation we must deal with, it should not be like that. Nobody must interfere with the work of the committee," he said.
"If you threaten staff that is supposed to come and say they must report for work, and if you say they must report for work, you are directly interfering with the work of this committee. I don't know why anybody would do that," Mapulane said.
ANC MP Tebogo Letsie said the NSFAS should be reprimanded if it sent letters to those employees.
"It means there is a deliberate attempt by NSFAS to get these comrades not to come to the portfolio committee. That is unacceptable," Letsie said.
"That smells bad. You know we are in a gangster state of some sort. We really have the responsibility to send a message to Dr Carolisen that we must never be treated that way again," he said.
"If it is true that then that suggests people are using state resources meant to deliver services to our people to settle scores, to entrench themselves and deal with people, which is the core of the complaints that came from these comrades," Letsie said.
The IFP's Siphosethu Ngcobo said he didn't take that lightly and could be for the same reason Nehawu was not in attendance.
"We take very seriously the issue of the letter preventing members not to come and to present themselves here. That person would need to be subpoenaed to come explain herself to us," Ngcobo said.
The EFF’s MP Susan Thembekwayo said: "It is unacceptable and she must account”.
NSFAS administrator Randall Carolissen said he took the work, oversight and authority of the committee seriously.
"I would not allow anyone to prevent anybody to come to the committee," Carolissen said, adding that here was a misunderstanding regarding the letter to the employees.
"I can only apologise. I can assure you that we take you seriously as you represent the people of South Africa," he said.
Mapulane said he had earlier raised the matter with Carolissen, who said the letters were not an intention to obstruct the work of the committee.
"Here we are busy with oversight work and an executive engages in intimidatory tactics against workers. It must not be acceptable," he said.
"Where we are we think it is interfering with the work of the committee. We expect that written explanation and apology from the executive," Mapulane said.
Political Bureau