A senior official suspended from the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs over allegations of fraud and maladministration has been redeployed to the Eastern Cape’s disaster management unit. This development demands urgent explanation from the Eastern Cape government.
In the wake of the devastating floods in Mthatha and surrounding areas, with hundreds of millions of rands in disaster relief funding being made available, the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs saw fit to appoint Chuleza Hombisa Jama, a KZN official currently facing allegations of fraud and maladministration. This defies logic, undermines accountability, and places emergency resources at direct risk.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has written to MEC Zolile Williams to request clarity on how this appointment was approved and what vetting, if any, took place. I will also be tabling parliamentary questions to uncover whether the Eastern Cape government knowingly appointed an official facing disciplinary action in another province.
Media reports indicate that Jama was suspended in April from her post in KZN following a forensic investigation into the failed R151 million Jozini water project. Despite this, she now holds a senior role within the Eastern Cape’s disaster management unit. The department has claimed this was a horizontal transfer that did not require the standard recruitment process.
This loophole has allowed a person under active investigation to move provinces without disclosing the nature of the disciplinary action against them. Such manoeuvres undermine public faith in government and weaken institutional integrity.
Disaster management relies on trust, efficiency and accountability. Placing someone with an unresolved misconduct history in charge of emergency response and funding decisions is a risk the province cannot afford.
The DA is demanding a full account of the appointment process, including whether the Eastern Cape department received or requested details about the KZN disciplinary process. We also want assurance that the systems managing disaster relief are protected from interference or mismanagement.
Every household in this province deserves to know that when a crisis strikes, the people leading the response are competent, ethical and properly vetted. Public money intended for disaster relief should not be compromised by political manoeuvring or internal favouritism.
The people of the Eastern Cape deserve leadership that delivers, and a future built on dignity, opportunity and honest government.