Axed communications department director-general Mamodupi Mohlala has hit back at remarks made by her replacement, Harold Wesso, who alleged in parliament on Tuesday that he had inherited a “sinking ship”.
Wesso, who has been installed as acting director-general until a permanent replacement can be found, reportedly told parliamentarians that staff morale at the department had collapsed. He said there was no collective sense of purpose among employees as a result of Mohlala’s tenure as director-general.
But Mohlala has fired back, suggesting Wesso lacks the experience needed to run the strategically important government department, which sets policy in SA’s broadcasting and communications technology sector.
She says Wesso’s allegation that staff morale had plummeted under her watch is not true. “My track record speaks for itself,” Mohlala says. “I would not have been able to produce the work I did if people there had low morale.
“If there is low morale, it’s probably to do with the manner in which I was dismissed,” she says. “After I was dismissed, the [communications] minister [Siphiwe Nyanda] went out of the country, creating a huge air of uncertainty among the staff members.”
Nyanda fired Mohlala last month, citing an irretrievable breakdown in trust.
Mohlala says that in the three weeks since she left the department, “no one has provided proper direction on issues”.
“People have had no sense of reassurance or direction,” she says. “It’s a situation I found in the department when I started — people were finding it difficult to run with the projects and programmes. I had to step in.”
Mohlala says she hopes to meet with public service & administration minister Richard Baloyi this week to discuss her termination. She says if an amicable resolution can’t be reached, the matter will go to the labour court of 26 August. — Duncan McLeod, TechCentral
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