Dismissed Secretary to Parliament, Gengezi Mgidlana, says some of the allegations of maladministration he is accused of do not make sense.
The seven serious misconduct charges against Mgidlana include paying himself an ex gratia payment and chairing an adjudication bid committee.
Both the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) and the National Assembly resolved to dismiss him on Thursday following an independent disciplinary panel’s recommendation that he be fired.
“For instance if you take the ex gratia, you go to the financial statements in Parliament that have been audited, that were approved by Parliament, which show that the ex gratia in 2014/15 financial year and at the end of 2015/2016, those were audited statements. They went through the process. You can’t say I didn’t know that, I only know after 2017. It obviously doesn’t make sense. Both as the executive authority and Parliament as a deliberation body, you contradict your own self and say there is maladministration. It doesn’t make sense,” says Mgidlana.
Meanwhile the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (NEHAWU) in Parliament says Mgidlana cannot take ownership of the clean audit that Parliament achieved in 2015.
Earlier, Mgidlana said the disciplinary panel did not consider evidence, including the achievement of a clean audit under his leadership.
This is one of the issues he is expected to reflect on in court when he challenges Parliament’s decision to dismiss him.
“On the issue of the clean audit, he must not forget that he was not the first secretary to Parliament to preside over Parliament, wherein he will get a clean audit. The whole work has been done under the late Secretary Michael Coetzee. So, he cannot take ownership and celebrate the clean audit,” says Sthembiso Tembe, NEHAWU chairperson in Parliament.
