GPAA investigates two staffers following surfacing of racist WhatsApp conversation

Agency says employee relations are confidential

- By Bongani Mdakane

WhatsApp messages laden with racial slurs from white senior employees have been leaked at the Government Pension Administration Agency

The Government Pension Administration Agency (GPAA) is investigating two white senior officials for allegedly calling their colleagues and the entity's acting CEO the k-word in their racially charged WhatsApp conversation.

This was after they discovered that the agency was conducting investigations into allegations that the duo was doing business with the state owned entity. The two officials are chief information officer Meiring Coetzee and Esti de Witt, a general manager in legal services.

Acting GPAA CEO Job Stadi Mngomezulu asked Coetzee and Witt to provide reasons why they should not be suspended for their conversation, laden with other racial slurs.

Attached to the leaked exchange which exposes a deep undercurrent of racial animosity within the agency is a number Sunday World has verified belongs to Coetzee. While the chat in Afrikaans does not reveal a second number, Sunday World has elected to publish some of the original texts for context.