Acting DG accused of nepotism

Staff reporter

Bloemfontein – Hardly two months after Dr Solomon Phera, the acting Director General of Free State Provincial Government signed letters laying off staff in Office of The Premier, he is now accused of nepotism.

Dr Phera who till September was Deputy Director General: Corporates Affairs, assumed the acting role following the departure of erstwhile Director General, Kopung Ralikontsane who went on pension at the end of August 2024.

After his appointment, now in it’s 3rd month, Phera signed off notices to contract employees informing them their contracts will not be renewed much to the push back of trade unions (where Phera comes from).

While this is getting attention to reemploy some of the contract employees, Phera is accused of hiring his friend.

Phera joined Free State Provincial Government from Northern Cape Economic Development in May 2021, his former colleague at Northern Cape Department of Economic Development, Mohlamme Makhakhe, coincidentally joined FSPG five months later and it was Phera who processed his transfer.

“I was able to receive and process the request of the suitable person for the role.” – Dr Phera

Did Makhakhe have unfair advantage over other candidates?

In his Phd dissertation in possession of this publication, Dr Phera acknowledges friends and colleagues, among those acknowledged, three names caught our attention:

• Dr Mamiki “Mathlabs” Maboya
• Advocate Makhabane Mopeli
• Mohlamme Makhakhe

We will come back to Dr Maboya and Advocate Mopeli in the nearest future, for now, let’s focus on Makhakhe.

According to former staff members in the office of the Premier who spoke in condition of anonymity, they were overlooked for the Deputy Director position and ask how did Makhakhe know about the vacant post in the first place.

In 2017, Phera and two former NEHAWU officials wrote an opinion piece responding to an article written by Stephen Grootes.

“Of course the ANC has a different agenda to that of organised labour. They come together precisely because they have different agendas and work in different spheres and are able to find mutual interests that they work on together.

There will inevitably be conflict and contestation. That is normal. The relationship between workers and employers (public or private) is both a collaborative and a conflictual one. In the private sector it is in the interests of workers that their company succeeds but at the same time there is contestation over who benefits from that success.”

Phera is currently chairing a disciplinary hearing of Community Safety, Roads and Transport and is due to make a ruling on an application by a labor union to have charges dropped. The employee has been on suspension for over 14 months.

We asked the Union to share recording of that hearing after Phera makes a ruling.

This is a developing story.

If you have news or tips please email news@stepupsanews.co.za or WhatsApp 0685000246