The National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) believes Martin Meyer, the KwaZulu-Natal MEC for public works and infrastructure, is out on a purging crusade targeting senior officials.
The key ANC alliance partner and one of Cosatu’s biggest contributors in terms of union fees also took a swipe at the government of provincial unity (GPU).
It said the governing pact wanted those who had served in the previous administration out at all costs and targeting senior and strategic posts for their party members.
The GPU, led by the IFP, also comprises the DA, ANC, and Nation Freedom Party.
“The union is busy defending our members at the department of public works. As Nehawu, we do think that there is a strategic purging of our members, especially in the departments such as public works and cogta [cooperative governance and traditional affairs],” Ayanda Zulu, Nehawu secretary in KwaZulu-Natal, told Sunday World.
2024 electoral defeat
Zulu said the purging is based on the changes of the administration in the province.
The ANC was handed a shocking electoral defeat in the 2024 national provincial elections, falling from 54%, which the party recorded in 2019, to a meagre 17%.
“If you look, they are not targeting some of the sections that are administrative in nature in the departments. They are targeting supply chain management,” Zulu explained.
He stated that Meyer is the worst culprit.
“We also think the MEC for public works is interfering with the operational duties of the department.
“In our lifetime, as a union organising, we have not seen an MEC so much involved in the matters that relate to disciplinary matters.
“Those issues are administrative in nature. They are in the line function of the head of department,” he said.
Senior officials sacked, suspended
Zulu further said that the union will push for a meeting with Meyer to address its concerns.
“We will not allow anyone, even the GPU, to harass our members that are in human resources so that they will do their own party deployment.”
Since taking over the department, Meyer has unleashed a cleansing drive with a number of senior officials either suspended or sacked.
Among them is axed supply chain management director Musa Zondi, whom the department charged for misconduct relating to the awarding of tenders.
According to the department, the internal probe had reached the conclusion that Zondi should fall on his sword for his lack of oversight.
The department, however, went on to say that Zondi was not fired for corruption. Instead, he was sacked for his oversight functions.
This has to do with 29 contracts totalling R1.1 billion that were illegally given to one business during Zondi’s tenure.
Other senior officials who were also suspended include Mpumi Lazarus, a senior staffer in the security department, deputy director acquisition and demand, and Lethukuthula Khumalo, an assistant director in infrastructure procurement.
Also placed on suspension is a personal assistant in Zondi’s office, allegedly on charges that he badmouthed and undermined authority.
Department acknowledges numerical error
Zondi, on the other hand, has traded blows, with the department given an ultimatum to retract allegations it made about him, saying it was false and damaging to his reputation.
In a confidential letter seen by Sunday World, Zuma and Partners Incorporated, representing Zondi, wants the department to rectify the error that Zondi’s failure to exercise his oversight function has led to one consulting company amassing just over a billion rands in state contracts.
The department has already acknowledged that it made a numerical error when it bandied about the R1.1-billion figure. But Zondi’s lawyers want that admission to be effected in a media statement issued to all media houses.
“We accordingly demand that the sixth paragraph of the amended media statement be removed completely as it has nothing to do with the charges and the dismissal of our client from the department,” states the letter of demand.
“The heading of the statement must reflect that our client is from the department, and the heading of the statement must reflect that our client’s action did not cost the department the alleged R1.1-billion.”
