The Auditor-General’s head of human resources — or Chief People Officer (CPO) — Mlungisi Mabaso was dismissed on Wednesday, after an independent disciplinary hearing found him guilty of “gross misconduct” and “gross dishonesty”, among other charges. Mabaso was suspended in July after he unleashed a slew of allegations against Auditor-General (AG), Tsakani Maluleke.

As Daily Maverick’s Rebecca Davis reported here, the story begins when, according to the Auditor-General South Africa (AGSA), Mabaso had a meeting with Maluleke on 27 June in which he accused her of corruption. Mabaso made nine claims in total against the AG — the majority of which allegedly took place while she was deputy AG and which dealt with payments allegedly made to the former AG, Kimi Makwetu.

Maluleke served as deputy from 2014 to 2020 before she was nominated to become AG in 2020. She took over as AG following Makwetu’s death in November 2020.

The AGSA stated that, during this meeting, Mabaso effectively tried to blackmail Maluleke, telling her he “wanted mutual separation on condition he received a financial settlement”, in exchange for him not going public with his allegations about her corrupt activities.

The AG made Mabaso’s claims public in a statement earlier in September, while Mabaso was suspended on 5 July pending an investigation by the law firm Bowmans into both his alleged blackmail and Maluleke’s alleged corruption.

The legal opinion, which was heard in Parliament on 16 September, cleared Maluleke of wrongdoing and recommended that Mabaso’s conduct in making the allegations were investigated for possible disciplinary proceedings. 

In a statement on Thursday, the AGSA said Mabaso had been charged with gross misconduct for threatening Maluleke, making several accusations against her and stating that he could cause her harm. The charge of gross misconduct included Mabaso failing to submit the allegations through the appropriate channels within the organisation.

“He also attempted to extort an unauthorised gratification from the Auditor-General in exchange for not disclosing the allegations,” the AGSA went on to say. This was in contravention of the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act.

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Mabaso was also charged for “violating his suspension conditions by sending a letter to several staff members without authorisation,” said the AGSA. 

Mabaso was further charged with “gross dishonesty” after it had emerged during his disciplinary process that he had lied on his CV, said the AGSA. 

“At the time of applying for the CPO role at the AGSA, he failed to disclose his previous employment with Aurecon South Africa (Pty) Limited as head of Human Capital Aurecon Africa-Middle East from August 2010 to July 2013. Instead, he indicated in his curriculum vitae that he was employed by the Bühler Group (Pty) Ltd from October 2010 to July 2016.”

“Mabaso also failed to disclose that Aurecon had instituted a claim for damages in the Labour Court and opened a criminal case against him,” said the AGSA.

On Wednesday, 21 September, Mabaso “elected not to participate” and walked out of the independent disciplinary inquiry into his conduct after the inquiry chairperson, advocate Emmanuel Motuku, declined his request for a postponement, according to the AGSA’s statement. However, the inquiry took place in his absence, where the AGSA’s evidence was uncontested and the hearing concluded the same day.

Motuku handed down his ruling on 23 September, and found Mabaso guilty of all charges, and recommended summary dismissal as an appropriate sanction.

Deputy AG Vonani Chauke, as the entity’s accounting officer, effected the dismissal, and Mabaso was served with the dismissal notice on Wednesday, 28 September, according to the statement.

“We have undertaken a very painful process which has taken a toll on the AGSA and its reputation,” said deputy AG Chauke. 

“The dismissal of the CPO has not been taken lightly, and the findings against him are very serious. However, we hope this brings this matter to an end and we can now focus on executing our constitutional mandate.” 

When contacted for comment, Mabaso called the disciplinary hearing a “farce”.

“They refused me access to my laptop which contained an audio recording of the conversation I had with the AG on 27 June. When I presented myself on day one of the hearing, I made the request to be given access to that information which was critical for my defence [to] prove allegations by the AG to be false,” Mabaso told Daily Maverick.

Mabaso said that the inquiry chairperson had declined his request. “I asked to be recused from the process as I felt it was an unfair process. When I realised that the process was unfair, I tendered my resignation, with immediate effect, on 22 September,” he said. DM