Employees accuse the board of shielding the CEO from accountability, alleging that a new delegation policy removed key oversight provisions.
Anonymous employees at the South African Weather Service (Saws) have accused the organisation’s CEO of deliberate tender obstruction, financial mismanagement and abuse of authority, claims the entity has strongly denied.
In a detailed document seen by The Citizen, whistle-blowers allege that the CEO obstructed the procurement of key equipment and oversaw the accumulation of a R53.2 million cash deficit for the 2024/25 financial year.
The employees claim this conduct has placed the weather service in “financial distress” and undermined its operations.
According to the document, the National Treasury confirmed the R53.2 million cash deficit on 2 October 2025 and advised CEO Ishaam Abader to implement measures that would improve the effectiveness and efficiency of public funds.
Among the key allegations are the repeated cancellation of the High-Performance Computing (HPC) tenders, the 14-month vacancy in the ICT security manager position despite cyberattacks earlier this year and the nine-month lapse of the fleet management contract, which resulted in “wasteful expenditure of R329 659″.
The employees claim the CEO’s actions have caused “material delays” to key infrastructure projects, including a R16 million data storage solution and a R3 million radar parts procurement contract allegedly awarded “on a single-source basis to an unidentified vendor”.
“The CEO repeatedly withholds approvals, delays finalisation of specifications and cancels tenders, only to re-advertise them under altered terms favouring preferred suppliers,” the complaint reads.
Board and governance under scrutiny
The employees further accuse the Saws board of shielding the CEO from accountability.
They allege that a new board delegation policy in March 2025 removed key oversight provisions, “effectively granting the CEO unfettered contracting power”.
The grievance policy, they add, now channels all complaints against the CEO directly to the CCMA, “circumventing internal disciplinary procedures”.
Union letters to parliament’s portfolio committee on environment, forestry and fisheries in August reportedly went unanswered, with the CEO allegedly threatening whistle-blowers with disciplinary action.
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Saws: Allegations are baseless and recycled
In response to The Citizen’s inquiry, Saws dismissed the allegations as “recurring misinformation” driven by “disgruntled employees” seeking to “disrupt internal clean-up measures”.
“It would be interesting to understand on what basis the information received is seen as credible,” the organisation wrote.
“These matters have been comprehensively responded to before and come on the back of audits by the auditor-general.”
On the HPC tenders, Saws said the delays were due to efforts to ensure full compliance with the Public Finance Management Act.
“The entity did not proceed with past procurements for fear of falling foul of regulated SCM processes,” the response reads. “The current tender is being evaluated and will be finalised shortly.”
Regarding the ICT security manager post, the organisation said an appointment was “at offer stage”, adding that previous candidates “were not experienced enough”.
The R329 659 figure linked to the fleet management lapse, Saws clarified, was unrelated to tender delays but rather to “damage from a vehicle that caught alight due to a lithium battery incident”.
As for the radar procurement, Saws explained that the parts must be sourced from the original equipment manufacturer or its accredited suppliers, “as radars are specialised and expensive equipment”.
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Morocco trip defended
The weather service also addressed questions around CEO Ishaam Abader’s recent trip to Morocco, after employees alleged the visit was unnecessary and excluded technical experts.
According to the agency, the CEO “was requested, as the head of Saws and the permanent representative of South Africa to the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), to attend the ClimAfrica Forum 2025″, which was sponsored by the Moroccan government.
“The CEO was a panellist and moderated a discussion on Early Warnings for All, a key initiative for the WMO, the UN and South Africa,” Saws said.
The organisation added that his attendance “was sponsored by the organisers” and that “relevant experts were able to join the meeting online” due to financial constraints.
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Saws defends CEO’s leadership
The entity also defended Abader’s track record, saying he “possesses the requisite qualifications and experience” and has led Saws to “a clean audit in the last two financial years”.
“Under Abader’s leadership and that of the new board, Saws has bolstered governance and compliance, reduced irregular expenditure to almost nil and achieved clean audits,” it said.
Despite mounting criticism, Saws insists it continues to operate effectively.
“Our forecasting systems remain functional and services will not be affected,” management said.
However, employees maintain that oversight has been compromised.
“The entity cannot function on autopilot,” one insider said. “We need leadership that serves science, not politics.”
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