Speaker, South Africa's Public Service needs fewer politically connected cronies in executive positions, not more. Hon Minister, in your 18 months in office you and those close to you have gained the reputation of influencing the choice of incumbents in board and executive positions in a number of entities reporting to your department. The Usaasa appointments are just the latest to surface.
The person you inserted into the shortlist for the position of chief financial officer of the SABC, and who you chose to fill the post, is now suspended and is being investigated for procurement irregularities. She was in the job for less than a year! One of the tasks she completed in her short tenure was the approval of R3 million in cash and publicity for your ICT indaba, an action for which she did not have the necessary executive management committee approval.
The SAPS is investigating whether appointments to the SA Post Office, Sentech and other entities were the result of corrupt processes influenced by your cronies who are out of reach of accountability to Parliament.
Now, Minister, you want to have more say over the board appointments to the beleaguered SABC. This at a time when years of political meddling by you and your predecessors are taking their toll on the public broadcaster. Why, Minister, will you not legislate that board and council appointments ... [Time expired.] ... of the entities actually are appointed by Parliament in a transparent and open process?