An announcement was made to senior management and at a press conference that the powers of the Head of Department were taken away and that created a number of administrative and management problems. Following these announcements, certain senior managers did not cooperate with various processes which were under way prior to the intervention. These included amongst others: lower levels of cooperation with the Auditor General, including non-attendance of Audit Meetings; the department was unable to submit its Annual Report to the Auditor General on time as the responsible manager believed he no longer had to report and account to the head of department and despite repeated requests he refused to submit the report; certain staff members saw an opportunity to take advantage of the intervention to escape the disciplinary processes which were under way long before the intervention. It was further noted that a practice emerged where certain staff wrote directly to the Minister contrary to the disciplinary code and procedure. A number of disciplinary hearings were delayed as the affected employees wrote to the Minister seeking her decision to set aside the disciplinary hearings.