Minister Naledi Pandor on Public Protector’s remedial action on Tshwane South College

Minister Pandor denies defying the Public Protector’s remedial action on Tshwane South College

The Department of Higher Education and Training is dismayed that it has been mentioned on the list of public institutions which are said to have defied the Public Protector’s remedial actions directives.

The department has taken the Public Protector’s proposed remedial action for review at the High Court, Gauteng Division. The Office of the Public Protector has already indicated that it is opposing the review applications.

The department is of the view that until the High Court has pronounced itself on the matter, the Minister of Higher Education and Training is not able to implement.

the Public Protectors remedial actions. In fact, the salient issue is that the department is not empowered by law to implement the remedial action.

The department has submitted that the Public Protector’s remedial action is un-implementable. This submission is informed by the fact that the matter of the disciplinary cases that led to the dismissal of employees and which the Minister is expected to reverse, by means of an inquiry and review, actually happened before TVET colleges were transferred to the responsibility of the DHET.

None of the dismissed employees were in the employment of the DHET and they did not challenge their dismissals, at the time, in the labour court. At the time of transfer of TVET colleges to the Department in 2015, there were no pending cases in labour courts.

Background

Forensic investigations  were conducted into Tshwane South College (as it was known) for alleged maladministration and corruption in 2005, 2007 and 2009 financial years.

During these years, the Further Education and Training Colleges, were under the administration of Provincial Education Departments. Furthermore, the affected Lecturers and support staff were employees of the Colleges, employed by the College Councils and not the Provincial Departments.

The affected staff members, lecturers and support staff of the college were accused of involvement in a number of illegal activities such as the destruction of property, infringement of the interdict sought by the college, and other activities which culminated in disciplinary hearings that commenced around February 2011.

These disciplinary hearings resulted in the dismissal of these staff members in 2014. This was concluded before the migration of FET Colleges and their employees to the Department of Higher Education and Training in 2015.

The dismissed employees had contacted the office of the Public Protector on 10 March 2011, 3 July 2012 and 19 August 2014.

The report of the Public Protector was issued on 31 March 2017, well after these employees were dismissed and their disciplinary hearings were concluded by the employer, which was the College Council.

The Public Protector requires the Minister to conduct an inquiry and review the dismissals of these employees who were dismissed by the College Council as the former employer.

The Minister has timeously lodged a review application in the High Court, Gauteng Division and the Public Protector is opposing the review application.