Dovhani Mamphiswana. Photo: Twitter/DCPI
Dovhani Mamphiswana. Photo: Twitter/DCPI
The Democratic Alliance are revelling in what they consider a party victory after President Cyril Ramaphosa axed Public Service Commission (PSC) Director-General Dovhani Mamphiswana from office, having suspended him earlier this year after it emerged that he had hired his mistress as the head of professional ethics
The brazen appointment of Dovhani’s child’s mother in December 2019 led to the establishment of a dedicated investigative team led by advocate Smanga Sethene, who has now concluded that Dovhani should be removed.
Damning report concludes widespread corruption by Mamphiswana
PSC spokesperson Kamegelo Mogotsi said that Mamhiswana actions smacked of “nepotism, deceit, dishonesty, corruption, and fraud”.
“The sanctions stemming from the disciplinary process against the DG has been pronounced and the minister has communicated the same to the DG and chairperson of the disciplinary committee. The DG has received a letter advising him of his dismissal.”
Ramaphosa afforded Minister of Public Service and Administration Senzo Mchunu, the power to initiate disciplinary processes against Mamphiswana in terms of the Disciplinary Code applicable to heads of department as envisaged in Chapter 7 of the SMS Handbook, and also deal with all matters pertaining to the disciplinary hearing and its outcome, including, but not limited to — in the event of a guilty finding at the hearing — the implementation of the sanction pronounced by the chairperson at the hearing.
The report submitted to Ramaphosa stemming from the ongoing probe in August recommended that he “institute formal disciplinary action against Mamphiswana”.
The president subsequently advised the Director-General of his intention to place him on precautionary suspension,” it added.
DA revel in decision
Mamphiswana and his mistress were cryptically dubbed “ the ANC’s Bonnie and Clyde” by the DA, who on Monday expressed their satisfaction with the decision.
“This comes after the DA waged a relentless year-long battle to free the PSC from the grasp of Mamphiswana, who is a known ANC cadre. In our pursuit of Mamphiswana and his mistress, we successfully thwarted repeated attempts by both Minister Senzo Mchunu and President Cyril Ramaphosa to aid and abet these bandits,” said the DA’s Leon Schreiber.
“It is only due to the DA’s ceaseless hunt to bring the bandits to justice that Ramaphosa and Mchunu eventually had no other choice but to fire Mamphiswana,” he said. “But it remains a tragedy that it took a full year for the government to act against someone who had turned our most important public sector ethics watchdog into a cesspit of corruption.
“Due to the ANC’s delaying tactics in defence of their beloved cadre, taxpayers continued to pay Mamphiswana’s salary of close to R2 million for a whole year.”
