Response to the “Political Mandate Letter”

Banner of the National Department of Labour together with the South African flag

11 December 2019

The Department of Employment and Labour has been made aware of a “Political Mandate letter” purportedly written by Honourable Minister, TW Nxesi. The letter alleges that the Minister wishes to deploy a comrade at the Mokopane Labour Centre, at level 10. This, according to the letter, should be done before the December shutdown.

“I would like to assure every South African that I have engaged the Minister with regards to the contents of the letter and the veracity of the letter itself. The Minister wishes to refute these allegations. At no stage has he written such a letter issuing such an instruction. I therefore want to make everyone aware of the existence of this letter and caution you that it is part of the fake documents purporting to either be issued by the Department or in this case by the Minister”, Director General Thobile Lamati said.

This communique dispels the notion created by the letter that positions are filled in the Department in line with a political mandate. We have Human Resource Management (HRM) policies that we adhere to, anything used beyond these policies constitutes an illegal act and such act(s) will be dealt with accordingly. It is clear the content of this letter is intended to impugn both the credibility and image of both the Minister and the Department”, Lamati continued.

The origin of the letter as well as its contents will be investigated by the Department.

For more information contact:

Mokgadi Pela

Acting Departmental Spokesperson

082 808 2168

Mokgadi.Pela@labour.gov.za

-ENDS-

Issued by: Department of Employment and Labour