Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula must in future approach the Public Service and Administration Department first if he wants to appoint any special advisers, the Public Protector has recommended.

In an investigative report released at a media briefing on Wednesday, 30 June, Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane said the appointments of advisers Bongisizwe Mpondo, Lawrence Venkile and Kaizer Khoza were irregular as they were approved by the Minister of Public Service and Administration Senzo Mchunu — after Mbalula had confirmed their positions.

The Public Protector found:

• Venkile had been appointed on 1 June 2019, but Mchunu’s approval came through on 27 August 2019.
• Khoza’s appointment contract is dated 21 March 2020, but Mchunu’s approval happened on 11 November 2020.
• Mpondo’s appointment was dated 15 November — but no approval had been given by Mchunu.

Mpondo is no stranger to controversy in the Transport Ministry. While Mbalula had initially appointed him as a special adviser in November, he later backtracked and appointed Mpondo as a “project manager” in the Transport Department.

Mbalula would then inform President Cyril Ramaphosa and Finance Minister Tito Mboweni of his plans to either fast-track the appointment of a permanent board or place the struggling Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) under administration.

Mbalula then seconded Mpondo to Prasa as the administrator of the agency in December 2019 — but this raised immediate questions from rail activist coalition #UniteBehind. It said Mbalula had no authority to place Prasa under administration as only Parliament or the judiciary could do so.

But Mbalula defended Mpondo’s appointment, even before Parliament. In August 2020, the Western Cape High Court set aside the appointment after an application brought by #UniteBehind.

In October 2020, Cabinet would approve the appointment of former MP Leonard Ramatlakane as Prasa’s board chair. In March 2021, Zolani Matthews was confirmed as Prasa’s chief executive.

According to the Public Protector’s report, the issue of Mpondo’s appointment at Prasa had been raised, but she did not want to look into this as the matter had “already been dealt with by the courts”.

In October 2020, amaBhungane reported that Prasa paid Mpondo R3-million soon before the high court set aside his appointment.

The complaint to the Public Protector’s office came after an open letter addressed to President Ramaphosa, Speaker of the National Assembly Thandi Modise and Mkhwebane in August 2020, where issues were raised about not only Mpondo’s appointment as a special adviser — the letter also referred to Mbalula as a “celebrity minister of Twitter”.

Read the full complaint:

In addition, the Public Protector’s report said Mbalula must take urgent steps to ensure “all future contracts of employment, Performance Agreements and security clearance of Special Advisers are submitted to the Minister of Public Service and Administration for record purposes as required by the Dispensation Policy”. Mbalula must also “ensure that all future contracts of employment, Performance Agreements and security clearance of Special Advisers are submitted to the Minister of Public Service and Administration for record purposes”.

The Public Protector also made a recommendation that Mchunu must take urgent and appropriate steps to “ensure that all Ministers and Deputy Ministers receive awareness and training regarding the procedures and processes to be followed in the appointment of Ministerial Special Advisers”.

Both Mbalula and Mchunu must, within 30 days of the report, provide feedback on progress made on her recommendations.

Daily Maverick has asked Mbalula’s office for comment on the report. DM