Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba says he will consider a transfer from another department or advertise the post of his department’s Director-General Mkhuseli Apleni’s position as early as this weekend.
Apleni has confirmed that he has resigned and he’ll join the Discovery Bank from August the first. He made the confirmation at a media briefing.
He approached the courts last year when then Minister Hlengiwe Mkhize suspended him, claiming that he was unstable and had undermined the department.
Apleni appears to have put it behind him. “Life is not a bed of roses, it’s got its ups and downs. But what is important is to look forward. So, I think I was supported by everyone.”
Gigaba praised Apleni saying the department’s annual targets went up from 25 percent to 89 percent since he arrived.
“As a result of his diligence, the department obtained its very first unqualified audit report in 2010/2011 which has been followed by the second obtained for the 2016/17 Financial year.”
The Home Affairs minister says he will consider a transfer from another department or advertise the post of Apleni’s position as early as this weekend.
Apleni has been with the Home Affairs Department for nearly ten years.
Intermittent power cuts and shutdowns have an adverse impact on Home Affairs’ mission to improve waiting time and reduce long queues.
In April this year, government embarked on a campaign to reduce long queues at Home Affairs offices countrywide.
This after numerous complaints of poor service and long waiting periods.
Gigaba says their gains are being eroded by power supply interruptions.
“The downtime severely affects all our offices. It’s a matter that we are gravely concerned about and it affects not only the public it affects also our officers. Because when the office is off-line and the officials can’t operate any service that must be operated live, members of the public view them as lazy, unwilling to work.”
While there are still long queues at Home Affairs offices, some say the turnaround time has improved.
