Dept is in order despite DG's absence - Pule

In November last year, the National Assembly's portfolio committee on communications found that Sekese had misled the committee to believe that she had signed a performance agreement for the 2012/3 year.

Sekese had been placed on special leave on December 14 pending the outcome of legal advice from the state's law advisors.

The decision by Pule to place Sekese on special leave was overturned when she took the matter to the Labour Court, which ruled that she could return to her position in the department.

Pule today told the committee that the state law advisors office would, by the latest Friday, provide her with legal advice on how to act against Sekese.

She said that since returning to the department in April, Sekese had not been at the office and had been unable to convene meetings with other officials from the department, while Sekese had also not assisted in presenting the department's budget vote of last month.

During this time Sekese had gone on both leave and sick leave and had also been absent from time to time.

Sekese had however, during this time, not opted to delegate her work to any other officials but had instead asked for documents that needed to be dealt with to be delivered to her home for her to sign off on.

Pule said she therefore has had to assume many of the director general's functions, including having to interact and meet regularly with deputy directors general.

"It was a situation that was difficult and it continues to be a situation that is difficult," she said.

Members questioned the minister on why the legal process had taken over six months; whether she had a handle on the department and why the director general had not attended recent meetings with the committee on the department's strategic plans.

Pule said she was hamstrung in that directors general are appointed by the cabinet, through ministers.

This meant she isn't able to deal effectively with the appointment of directors general which was why she has had to engage with the Minister of Public Service and Administration Lindiwe Sisulu.

"So I think we have a legal lacuna... in terms of the appointments of DGs (directors general) and addressing the issues of appointments of DGs," said Pule.

Pule also apologised for the director general not having attended last week's appropriations committee meeting in Parliament and delegating another official to come before the committee in her place.

She said Sekese had been wrong to delegate this task to another official, as since returning to the department she had only had been stripped of her oversight on HR functions, not those on other functions in the department.

Pule explained that during Sekese's absence on special leave deputy director-general Gift Buthelezi had been doing such good work on the HR functions, that she had opted for Buthelezi to retain this specific function, while handing over the remaining functions to Sekese.