Patricia de Lille and Sam Vukela have broken DPWI, they should both be fired
11 April 2022
Note to Editors: Please find an attached soundbite by Samantha Graham-Maré MP
The recreated "civil war" between the Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI), Patricia de Lille and the Department’s recently reinstated Director General, Sam Vukela, is a huge threat to an already limping DPWI and will compromise its ability to effectively deliver on its core mandate.
In order to stop the hostile situation between De Lille and Vukela from degenerating into complete chaos and crippling the DPWI, President Cyril Ramaphosa should fire both of them as a matter of urgency.
There is still no clarity whether Vukela will abide by the legal note sent by De Lille’s lawyers instructing him not to show up to work tomorrow. Vukela’s silence on the legal note creates the impression that he is more than happy to play a ‘cat and mouse’ game with De Lille.
Should Vukela decide to show up to work tomorrow following the administrative decision by the General Public Service Sector Bargaining Council (GPSSBC) to reinstate him as the presumptive DG of the DPWI, this will severely undermine decision making and delegation of authority within the Department. For example, the DPWI will now have a DG who thinks he was suspended based on unlawful instructions from the Minister, and a Minister who has zero trust in her DG because she thinks he is corrupt.
The end result of this stalemate is that the DPWI will be caught in between two of its most senior people pulling in different directions and making decisions independent of each other.
Not only will this be an unprecedented breakdown in trust within a government Department, it raises serious questions about the logic of allowing this combustible relationship between De Lille and Vukela to continue festering with no end in sight. For the sake of DPWI employees, who will probably struggle on deciding on who to listen to between the two, Ramaphosa should exercise his executive authority and dismiss both of them.
While the GPSSBC ruled in Vukela's favour and opted for his reinstatement, this was based on procedural irregularities and not a determination of his guilt or innocence on the charges brought against him. The cloud of corruption allegations hanging over his head remain significant and this makes him unfit to continue as the DG. He simply cannot be allowed to preside over the Department’s multi-billion rand budget when two reports by PriceWaterHouseCoopers (PWC) and the Public Service Commission implicated him in fraudulent contract management, irregular payments and irregular appointments.
Similarly, under Patricia de Lille, the DPWI has lurched from one crisis to another making her continued stay as Minister untenable. Among her most notable shortcomings, her negligent conduct which led directly to the fire in Parliament and her role in the irregular Beitbridge border washing line are simply unforgivable.
Issued by Samantha Graham-Maré, DA Shadow Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure, 11 April 2022
