Durban — The DA in KwaZulu-Natal has requested that Social Development MEC Nonhlanhla Khoza reconsider the decision to allow officials implicated in the blanket-stealing saga in her department to return to work.
The request comes after senior Social Development officials, who had been suspended on full pay since 2020, were allowed to return to work due to the lengthy nature of the trial.
DA KZN Social Development spokesperson Mmabatho Tembe said the DA was enraged by this outcome.
“The charges are serious and relate to the allegedly irregular procurement of R22 million worth of blankets, this during a time when the Covid-19 pandemic struck.
“While the department has stated that the officials will be placed within different units, the fact remains that their names are yet to be cleared. This is a typical revolving-door policy designed to protect failed or tarnished politicians or officials,” said Tembe.
She said the officials’ return came despite a recommendation in the Special Investigating Unit report that criminal charges be laid.
“This sequence of events is a grave injustice to the people of our province. Equally, the MEC and her department have erred on several levels.
“The first mistake was allowing these officials to be suspended with pay while the case is still being heard, despite the serious nature and enormity of the allegations. The fact that the case is taking so long also should not mean that they simply return to business as usual,” said Tembe.
She said this showed that Social Development had failed to take accountability. It was clear that disciplinary processes should be speeded up so that matters were dealt with swiftly.
Social Development spokesperson Mhlaba Memela said the department did not make the decision that the employees return to work.
“After the employees were taken to trial, the department opened the case and the National Prosecuting Authority came back and said there was no case.
“The disciplinary hearing continued regardless and they were indeed suspended,” said Memela.
He said their return to work did not mean that they had been cleared. He added that they would not be returning to their respective positions, and some of them had taken it upon themselves to resign.
He said the disciplinary hearing was ongoing and hadn’t been finalised.
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