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The union realised that a statement by key witness, Norman Mavhunga, was not in the docket when its representative had a meeting with a prosecutor in the Polokwane Regional Court a few days before Maseko’s scheduled appearance on June 14

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Sizwe sama Yende

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A union has asked for answers from the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and the Hawks following the withdrawal of fraud charges against a senior manager in the Limpopo premier’s office.

The National Education Health and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu) claims in its letter to Advocate Ivy Thenga, the Director of Public Prosecutions in Limpopo, that it was not shocked at labour relations director Mbobole Michael Maseko’s exoneration due to suspicious incidents that preceded the withdrawal.

The Hawks arrested Maseko in April following four years of dodging allegations of embellishing and falsifying his CV when he applied for the job at then premier Stanley Mathabatha’s office.

Maseko brought the heat on himself when he was seen to be acting as Mathabatha’s henchman – acting hard on employees who are Nehawu members. Nehawu and Mathabatha, who is now Land Reform and Rural Development minister, had unending friction.

Nehawu branch secretary, Ndivhuwo Madzusa, said in his correspondence dated July 4 that the union learnt through a WhatsApp message from Hawks investigating officer, Warrant Officer Alex Mahlare, that the charges against Maseko had been withdrawn.

Madzusa said that the union had unsuccessfully been trying telephonically to reach Mahlare to get the date and court the case was going to be heard.

He said that the union realised that a statement by key witness, Norman Mavhunga, was not in the docket when its representative had a meeting with a prosecutor in the Polokwane Regional Court a few days before Maseko’s scheduled appearance on June 14.

“We are conversant with the docket as the complainants and as such  we want to bring it to your attention that the docket contained statement deposed by officials from the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA), Sekhukhune TVET College and SADTU,” Madzusa said.

The statements, said Madzusa, confirmed that Maseko made misrepresentation of a material nature by claiming qualifications that do not exist, positions he never held and experience he never had or was aggrandised in his CV when he applied for the job in 2013.

“It is our considered view that the designated state prosecutor completely disregarded these statements, unless convinced otherwise, and put reliance on statements/affidavits of accomplices of the accused, who in this instance were supposed to be charged for their role in this crime.”

Maseko had claimed in his CV that:

·      He had a diploma accredited by CCMA when he applied. He claimed that he obtained the diploma after passing modules in substantive law, jurisdictional rulings, conciliations, managing dismissals, and arbitration 1 and 2. 

The CCMA has denied this and explained that it only offered in-house training programmes, not qualifications registered with South African Qualifications Authority.

·      He was a council member of Sekhukhune TVET College and head of human resources. The college has confirmed that he was a council member but not the HR head.

·      He was SADTU’s Limpopo secretary from 1990 to 1995 – a claim the teachers’ union had denied.

Madzisa said that several NPA and Hawks officials were removed from the case when it appeared that the evidence linked Mathabatha and Limpopo provincial government director-general, Nape Nchabeleng.

“We are concerned about the withdrawal of the case, and suspect that in ordinary course the designated state prosecutor has shown highest level of incompetence in effecting such withdrawal in light of the available evidence or could have deliberately omitted all rational and objective facts on the case to collapse [it] for reasons known to him or, where such reasons were advanced to your good-self, such rationale must be made known and weighed against available evidence,” he said.

When the union reported the matter to Mathabatha four years ago, he dismissed the allegation as unfounded and said that Maseko‘s application had the necessary qualifications proven by the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA).