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- Minister Blade Nzimande has welcomed the Labour Court's dismissal of his former director-general's challenge to his suspension.
- In the court application, Gwebinkundla Qonde alleged that his suspension was unlawful.
- The court ordered Qonde to pay costs.
Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation Blade Nzimande has welcomed the dismissal of a court application which his former director-general, Gwebinkundla Qonde, lodged to have his suspension declared unlawful.
The Labour Court ordered Qonde to pay the costs of the application and those of the two counsel in the matter, the Higher Education, Science and Innovation Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
Qonde's suspension was based on the disclaimer audit opinion of the National Skills Fund (NSF), which found that R2.5 billion could not be accounted for at the entity. The NSF provides funding for skills development initiatives through bursaries, learnerships, scholarships and workplace-based learning programmes.
The court heard Qonde's application on 31 August.
READ | Nzimande dismisses abuse of power claims after director-general suspended
"This is an outcome we expected. It actually vindicates government's commitment to fight against maladministration, corruption and the capturing of the state. It also exonerates our procedurally correct approach in dealing with this matter. Equally, it should also serve as a lesson to those who continue or support those who are defrauding the state to know that their time has come," Nzimande said.
He added that the judgment should be welcomed because it exposed what seemed to have been a well-conceived political campaign directed against him, given credibility by some sections of the media that have been behind a media campaign against him for months.
Nzimande added that there seemed to be a perverted agenda by both publicly known and unknown people, as well as some opposition political parties, to undermine their efforts to fight corruption and maladministration within the Department of Higher Education and Training.
He added:
He called on all people, political formations and interest groups to support government initiatives to fight corruption and maladministration which deny people the right to expeditious service delivery within the PSET (post-schooling education and training) sector, which are taken away by people who have ill intentions.
The minister said he would not turn a blind eye or be deterred from rooting out "all acts of diversion" in his department or at entities and institutions under his authority.
"It is my public duty to fight against any tendencies that seek to undermine our hard-earned democracy, such as corruption, maladministration and the capturing of the state."
According to the department, the judgment noted that Qonde failed to show that his disclosures to President Cyril Ramaphosa led to his suspension.
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