Parliament, Thursday, 4 May 2017 - The Portfolio Committee on Environmental Affairs is alarmed by the decision of the board of the South African Weather Service to pay the former CEO of SAWS a nine months’ salary after the termination of her contract. This emerged during the briefing on Wednesday, the 3rd of May 2017, by the South African Weather Service on the organisation’s annual performance plans.
The Committee considers this as a fruitless and wasteful expenditure and has consequently resolved to call upon the board of the South African Weather Service to provide valid reasons why Parliament should not demand that members of the board of the South African Weather Service pay individually for the fruitless and wasteful expenditure that SAWS has unnecessarily incurred as a result of the ill-advised board’s decision to prematurely terminate the services of the CEO five months before the expiry of her contract. In addition, the Committee was also informed that the board has paid the CEO a three months’ salary last month in addition to the five months’ salary already paid to the CEO when the board prematurely terminated her contract in November 2016.
The Committee dismissed the so-called breakdown of relationship as reported in the meeting by a representative of the Department of Environmental Affairs in the board (information that was not even contained in the official report the board of SAWS presented to the Committee) as there were no relationship issues when the former CEO of SAWS, Dr Linda Makuleni, together with the Chairperson of the board, Ms Ntsoaki Mngomezulu, appeared before the Committee during the briefing on the SAWS 2014/15 Annual Report in October 2016. On the contrary, the Board commended the excellent work during the meeting that the CEO and management did in obtaining a clean audit opinion front the Auditor-General. Three weeks later, the board took a decision to prematurely terminate the contract of the CEO.
“The board has no right to be reckless with the money that Parliament has appropriated to the South African Weather Service because that money does not belong to them – but to the people of the Republic of South Africa. The board has a right to discipline any of its employees if they are involved in misconduct and there are due processes to be followed in this regard, but Parliament will not allow wilful and reckless decisions which result in fruitless and wasteful expenditure,” said Mr Philemon Mapulane, the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Environmental Affairs.
The Portfolio Committee has given the board of the South African Weather Service until the end of May 2017 to provide reasons to the Committee why Parliament should not decide to demand that members of the board of SAWS responsible for this decision pay in their individual capacity for the fruitless and wasteful expenditure incurred.
ISSUED BY PARLIAMENTARY COMMUNICATION SERVICES ON BEHALF OF THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS, MR PHILEMON MAPULANE.
For media enquiries or interviews with the Chairperson, please contact:
Name: Ms Faith Kwaza
Parliamentary Communication Services
Tel: 021 403 8062
Cell: 081 377 0686
Email: fkwaza@parliament.gov.za
Arrange a tour