The gloves are off between ex-deputy director-general of fisheries management Siphokazi Ndudane and her former boss following a disciplinary hearing that found her guilty of theft of abalone.
Ndudane has threatened legal action in an attempt to clear her name - a move that deepens a protracted battle with the director-general of Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries, Mike Mlengana, which paralysed the department tasked with transforming the fishing industry.
She charged that the disciplinary process, held even though she had tendered her resignation, was nothing but a sham designed to tarnish her name with a sensational “dismissal”.
Some employees made protected disclosures and former minister Senzeni Zokwana ordered, at the time, not to go ahead with disciplinary hearings until all investigations were concluded.
The disciplinary hearing found Ndudane guilty of theft of abalone worth more than R7 million at a government storage facility in Paarden Eiland and sanctioned her dismissal, which was leaked to the media.
The department has refused to speak on the matter, saying it was a “labour issue”.
However, Ndudane has vowed
to fight the decision as she viewed it as “yet another attempt” by Mlengana to block any future employment opportunities.
Ndudane has just been employed as head of the department of Rural Development and Agrarian Reform in the Eastern Cape. In a lengthy response to her dismissal, she offered a glimpse into a department in turmoil.
She described Mlengana as a “DG who has gone rogue and who claims
to be important in the ANC and hell-bent to destroy careers and settle political scores.
“I will, personally, not allow him to tarnish my image and will use all legal avenues to fight for a career I have worked hard to build,” she said.
A trained fisheries scientist, Ndudane joined the department in February 2016.
In 2018, Mlengana suspended her for four months, accusing her of fraud, theft, extortion and forgery among others allegations.
At the centre of the battle is a R45m abalone processing contract which was allegedly steered towards Mlengana’s business partners.
Mlengana was suspended in 2017 on a range of charges.
As soon as he returned to office following a court ruling in his favour, he moved to oust Ndudane, but was temporarily blocked by the then minister, Zokwana.
A report by the Public Service
Commission which was roped in to investigate the shenanigans in the department after Zokwana withdrew a court case, noted that while Ndudane was attending an international meeting, members of the meeting had copies of her charge sheet, translated in different languages.
“Not only did she not know her charge sheet was made available to stakeholders abroad, but the wording on the charge sheet created the perception that she was already guilty of the charges levelled against her, ”the report noted.
The report also noted that the environment at the department was “toxic, divisive, factionalised and unprofessional environment within the department”.
A spokesperson for the minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, Reggie Ngcobo said some of the issues were “legacies “ of the past and that some of the investigations had not been concluded yet.
He would not say what steps had been taken to deal with the alleged rot in the department.