The Minister of Public Enterprises, in her capacity as the shareholder representative on behalf of government with regard to a number of state owned enterprises (SOEs), does not have the authority to dismiss employees at an SOE.
The responsibility of the minister does not extend to labour relations. To suggest therefore that the minister would contemplate dismissing any employee is incorrect and misleading, as labour law and the SOE corporate governance framework (including the Public Finance Management Act [PFMA]) clearly set out who has the authority to seek disciplinary sanctions.
It is the company and the board that enter into employment relationships with employees.
The minister can therefore not dismiss SOE employees nor is she able to exercise any preference for any particular sanction in so far as SOE employees are concerned, as that is the legal function of the relevant Board of Directors.
It is important to note that the parliamentary response referred to in the article, clearly stated that while Transnet would seek dismissal as an appropriate sanction (not the minister), the final decision on the sanction would be that of "the respective appointed presiding officer". Any sanction would therefore be the decision of a legally valid tribunal.
For the record, Transnet has yet to make final representations to the independent chairman (presiding officer). Indeed, it would be highly irregular and unprecedented for the minister to prejudge the proceedings of a due process. The minister has never done this and has no intention of doing so now.
We are pleased that the Business Day has conceded that today's headline is misleading and that it will consider publishing a correction in its Thursday edition.
Kindly note that we cannot comment on the merits of the matter as that would be prejudicial and inappropriate given that a finding was just issued on 5 June 2010, and that a sanction has not yet been determined by the independent chairman.
The minister regards the matter as an internal Transnet issue and urges all parties to respect the current pending process and allow it to take its due course.
Issued by: Department of Public Enterprises
15 June 2010
Source: Department of Public Enterprises (http://www.dpe.gov.za/)
