The chief director of infrastructure management for information systems at Home Affairs has been dismissed on allegations of gross negligence and dereliction of duty.
In a statement on Wednesday, Home Affairs spokesperson Siya Qoza said the accused, Simphiwe Hlophe, is an information technology (IT) specialist whose job has a huge impact on the productivity of the department and its ability to deliver services effectively.
“Mr Hlophe is responsible for IT aspects that involve network outages [offline], system downtime, and IT capability which affect the department’s commitment to service delivery and clean governance,” said Qoza.
Hlophe swindled the department in 2021.
Qoza shared that the department had procured routers and switches in an attempt to deal with system downtime issues in its offices. However Hlophe, who initially reported that the resources were being deployed for use, had instead kept them in storerooms.
“Last year, the Department of Home Affairs together with the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies and SITA [State Information Technology Agency] presented to the joint portfolio committees on home affairs and communications and digital technologies a plan to deal with system downtime at Home Affairs offices.
“SITA undertook to totally overhaul their networks whereas Home Affairs undertook to buy a certain number of new routers and switches. These routers and switches were procured. Mr Hlophe reported that they were being deployed whereas it was discovered later that actually, they remained in the storerooms.”
Hlophe was found guilty and concomitantly dismissed from office on August 19 2022.
According to Qoza, the culprit has been charged with gross negligence and dereliction of duty and contravention of the National Treasury Regulation 8.2.1.
“[He was charged with] gross negligence or dereliction of duties in that he certified an invoice of SITA that included services not rendered; contravention of National Treasury Regulation 8.2.1, gross negligence [alternative negligence] in that he authorised other expenditure against a credit note issued by SITA; and gross dereliction of duties or dereliction of duties in that routers and switches were procured, but remained in storage and were not deployed,” Qoza explained.
Qoza said the department has been experiencing system instabilities that have negatively affected frontline service delivery, noting that the department’s service delivery charter depends on a stable IT infrastructure platform, networks, and operating systems “to effectively perform its functions, rendering sustainable and reliable service capability to our frontline offices”.
“The failure of a senior manager to oversee and execute on these functions is a serious misconduct and cannot be tolerated.
“Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has warned other officials and senior managers to be truthful in their conduct and be aware of the consequences that apply when one is found guilty of such conduct.
The minister said negligence is a serious offense to the Public Finance Management Act.
“We are on a firm path towards clean governance and improved service delivery. The responsibility for the performance of the department rests with all employees. Accountability for the performance of assigned responsibilities is absolutely critical,” said Motsoaledi.
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