LISTEN: Home affairs DG Apleni’s lawyer reveals why he was suspended
His lawyer Sandile July said the suspension was not related to the Guptas.
Director-general of home affairs, Mkuseli Apleni, addresses the media to announce new tariffs for ID documents, passports and other documents. Photo: Johann Hattingh/ Citizen
Apleni was suspended on Monday by Minister of Home Affairs Hlengiwe Mkhize for reasons that were unclear to him at the time.
“The Home Affairs Minister, Professor Hlengiwe Mkhize, announced that the department’s Director-General, Mr Mkuseli Apleni, has been placed on precautionary suspension as of today, 18 September 2017,” read a statement by Mkhize’s spokesperson Mpume Madlala.
July has now told 702 his client has finally been told why he was suspended.
“We’ve got an idea of why he has been suspended. A week before the letter, which was received yesterday, there was a request for him to respond to a letter and it contained allegations.
“The allegations refer to failure to co-ordinate his staff where the minister is supposed to be present. The second refers to negotiations with a trade union and his failure to resolve amicably the legal dispute relating to such.”
Asked if the issue of the Guptas was included in the reasons for the suspension, as it was under Apleni’s watch that the Guptas were given South African citizenship by naturalisation, July said that was not the case.
“We don’t want to believe that, as what is written in the letter is those issues that were brought to our attention.”
July added Mkhize had no right to suspend his client as he was appointed by the president and not her.
Listen to the full interview below
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