State entity sidelines citizen, hires foreigner with no work permit

CEO hijacked recruitment process from HR desk

- By Queenin Masuabi

Then Inkomati Usuthu Catchment Agency (IUCMA) CEO and board sidelined their HR department when they hired a foreign national who did not have a work permit and whose qualifications it did not verify.

This is according to an internal report in which the HR department blames the then-CEO, Lucky Mohalaba and the board for policy breaches, including excluding it from the material part of recruitment – from shortlisting candidates and interviews to appointment.

According to the report, which Sunday World has seen, this part of recruitment was hijacked by Mohalaba and a committee of the board.

In what is an even worse indictment of the agency, it turned a blind eye to the shortcomings of the recruitment until it was nudged by the parliamentary portfolio committee on water and sanitation to investigate the flaws.

On June 17, MPs raised concerns regarding the process the board followed in the appointment.

Only then did the agency commission an assessment of the executive's employment file.