Poor thinking
CARMEL RICKARD: This is why Eastern Cape stays SA’s poorest province
An Eastern Cape treasury official was sacked for refusing to make payments for which there was no budget
If ever there was a story that illustrates why the Eastern Cape stays SA’s poorest province, this must be the one. It’s the story of a dispute over an accounting official of that province’s treasury department, Mendoe Dukada. She was the provincial treasury’s deputy director-general: asset and liability management. Since 2012 she has been in deep trouble, and she was finally sacked for "gross negligence". Hold your breath while I explain what she had done that amounted to a dismissible offence. She was found to have committed misconduct because she did not know about an executive decision, and therefore did not comply with it.The decision was taken at a meeting that Dukada did not attend and was not required to attend. At that meeting it was decided to "process teachers’ and health-care workers’ salaries despite the fact that there was no budget to pay them". Dukada was not informed of the decision. She refused to make these payments. A prudent manager of provincial finances, you ma...
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