Members of Parliament were stunned by comments made by the Department of Communications' acting director-general (DG), Harold Wesso, who described the department as a “sinking ship”.
Wesso made a short appearance at yesterday's Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Communications to be introduced into his new role at the DOC, following the sudden sacking of his predecessor, Mamodupi Mohlala, by communications minister Siphiwe Nyanda on 23 July.
Later, he told ITWeb that maybe his choice of words was too strong and the situation could be described as salvageable.
“The ship is sinking, but it has not reached the bottom yet,” he said.
Democratic Alliance shadow minister of communications Niekie van den Berg said: “I was aghast to hear what the acting DG had to say. It seems that the DOC is in a total mess.”
An ANC MP, who asked not to be named, described the situation as highly embarrassing to the nation.
“What is going on and how did it lead to such a mess?” the MP asked.
Communications committee chairman Ismail Vadi stated that the DOC has a “bleak situation”, but ruled that a full report needed to be presented to Parliament.
Wesso described staff morale at the DOC as being at rock bottom. “There is no sense of purpose. A number of senior and competent people are on suspension. This has impacted on productivity.”
He described Mohlala's appointment of staff as being “irrational”, with people performing tasks for which they do not have the required capacity.
Wesso said the DOC staff had lost overall perspective about what they were there for and what they should be doing.
He said he was compiling a status report for Nyanda and this should be ready in two weeks.
“My first priority is to build an environment that is conducive to work so that we can implement the DOC strategic plan. Time is on our side, as we still have 75% of the [financial] year left,” he said.
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