Accused rehired despite package

2003-03-16 19:04

Jimmy Seepe

The administrative secretary of the Home Affairs Minister Mangosuthu Buthelezi, Sonja Beukes, who was released on R8 000 bail after being arrested last week, was rehired by the office of the minister.

This happend despite the fact the she received a severance package from the department in 2000.

Beukes, accused of assisting in the theft of the passport of United States national James E Dann from the safe of the home affairs department, allegedly took a package amounting to thousands of rands and then re-applied a few months later for a job in the department.

It is understood Beukes was a personal assistant to former Home Affairs director-general Albert Mokoena and decided to take a severance package following Mokoena's resignation.

She is said to have left the department after she expressed misgivings about working under his successor, Billy Masetlha.

The department of public service and administration reportedly raised objections to the re-employment of Beukes by home affairs, suggesting it was unprocedural .

The Beukes case is understood to have created a minor crisis within the two departments as the public service department did not want to be seen to be bending the rules for the home affairs minister.

The office of the Minister of Public Service and Administration, Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi, this week confirmed that the department of home affairs had "requested advice from (them) regarding the re-employment of Ms S Beukes in the department of home affairs after she had taken a voluntary severance package (VSP)."

The department said it pointed out to home affairs that it could not proceed with the appointment as "one of the conditions of the voluntary severance package was that officials who took it could not be re-employed in the public service".

It suggested that the only way Beukes could be re-employed was if she changed the voluntary severance package to a voluntary resignation.

"This entailed that the value of the severance package (pension and severance package parts) would have to be calculated against the value of a voluntary resignation and that the difference would have to be reimbursed by Ms S Beukes to the department."

However, the chief of staff in Buthelezi's office, Awie van der Westhuizen, defended the appointment of Beukes and said she was not a public servant but was rehired on a contract basis to serve in the minister's office.

It now appears that a loophole that allows ministers to hire certain individuals on a contractual basis in their office facilitated Beukes's re-employment in the department.

Beukes was thus not obliged to reimburse the department for the money she took as part of her severance package.

Van der Westhuizen said the department had done nothing wrong.

"They (ministers) are entitled to appoint a person on a contractual basis. There was no conflict of interest in this matter."

Questioned about the terms of the contract, Van der Westhuizen said "her contract was to last for the duration of the term of office of the minister".

"There is no stipulation (in law) as to how long a contract should last," he added.

- City Press