Opposition parties respond to traffic cop trainee debacle

The HOD of the DCSSL, Busisiwe Nkuna, seemingly implicated the province’s premier in the controversial appointment of trainee traffic officers.

In a letter to Premier Refilwe Mtshweni-Tsipane, which Lowvelder has seen, Nkuna claimed she was being “persecuted” by the premier for not appointing certain people as training officers at the Mpumalanga Traffic Training College in Bushbuckridge.

On January 14, the premier nullified the recruitment of 125 trainee traffic officers at the college following an outcry from the public and opposition parties.

At the time, the Mpumalanga EFF opened a case of corruption against the premier and the DCSSL. The EFF believed that the selection process of these traffic officers had been flawed; that some of the selected students were relatives of departmental officials and did not meet the requirements.

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The premier then acknowledged that the 2021 intake of student traffic officers had been “procedurally and fatally flawed”.

Consequently, Nkuna was directed by the premier to stop the training until a formal investigation into the public complaints had been completed. Nkuna, however, did not comply and training at the college has been under way since January 4.

“According to me, the recruitment and selection process was above board,” Nkuna wrote in the letter. The HOD went on to ask who had been implicated in the allegations of nepotism and what was flawed about the recruitment selection process.

Nkuna said she was then given a list of names of candidates that had to be included in the training programme, irrespective of their qualifications.

The premier gave Nkuna an ultimatum to explain by March 12 why she had failed to implement the directive to stop the training pending an investigation, or be disciplined.

According to the HOD, she never received formal instruction from the premier to withdraw the learners; she said she had only received a press release which is not sufficient according to the constitution.

“The issue regarding the intake of the trainee traffic officers’ appointment is two-pronged,” said the provincial DA leader, Jane Sithole.

“On the one hand, the premier is calling for disciplinary action against Busisiwe Nkuna for failing to follow a directive given by the premier, and on the other hand, Busisiwe states that she is being victimised by the premier for not appointing who she wanted.”

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The chairperson of the Mpumalanga EFF, Collen Sedibe, said the party is tired of the “tug of war” between the premier and the HOD. “All we want is closure on the matter, by recalling the irregular appointed traffic officers’ learnership from the college and to start the process from scratch.”

The EFF has asked the police to take a formal statement from the HOD and put her on the list of witnesses in the case that the EFF opened against the department and the premier.

The DA has called for an investigation by the Public Protector as well as an investigation by the provincial integrity commission, which is based in the Office of the Premier, to be conducted to get all the facts.

“If the premier is found guilty, then she must be made to account for her actions,” said Sithole.

Sithole said the matter must be taken seriously. “The issue of nepotism in the training of traffic officers is a serious problem, especially in our province, where the unemployment rate is so high. People must be given equal opportunity.”