At last, parliament to axe its secretary, Gengezi Mgidlana, for misconduct

The axe is set to finally fall on parliament boss Gengezi Mgidlana on Thursday.

Parliament's programme shows that the two houses of the legislature - the National Assembly and National Council of Provinces (NCOP) - will resolve to dismiss Mgidlana with immediate effect.

The move comes just a month before Mgidlana's five-year contract was due to expire.

A draft resolution in the name of ANC chief whip Pemmy Majodina notes that during 2016 and 2017, the executive authority of parliament - the speaker of the National Assembly and the chairperson of the NCOP - had received a number of allegations, including allegations of financial misconduct, levelled against Mgidlana, who is the legislature’s accounting officer.

The resolution further reads that on May 25 2017, the executive authority requested the audit committee to promptly investigate the allegations, including the allegations of financial misconduct as they are obliged to do by the Financial Management of Parliament and Provincial Legislatures Act.

Mgidlana was placed on special leave in June 2017, to allow the audit committee to investigate.

That committee recommended that disciplinary action be considered against Mgidlana and he was later charged with 13 counts of serious misconduct. He was found guilty on most of them, including:

• the charge of serious misconduct by accepting an ex gratia payment for himself, and by recommending to the executive authority that certain employees listed in the charge sheet were also eligible for the ex gratia payment;
• serious misconduct by allowing his spouse to travel with him at parliament's expense during the times and to the events listed in the charge sheet;
• abusing the parliamentary protection services (PPS) driving function to provide driving services for a relative and his spouse in violation of the travel policy;
• serious misconduct by failing to stop the PPS drivers from using blue lights and/or sirens when providing driving services for him and, on some occasions, together with a relative;
• serious misconduct for chairing a special bid adjudication committee;
• serious misconduct by appointing a chief information officer in circumstances where she did not meet the minimum requirements for the position;
• misconduct for having used parliament's corporate credit card on the dates and in respect of the amounts contained in the charge sheet, in violation of the policy on corporate credit cards.

The chairperson of the disciplinary committee recommended that Mgidlana be dismissed.

Mgidlana earlier said he would mount a legal challenge against the disciplinary hearing's outcome, and that he believed it was wrong in fact and in law.