Staff Reporter
Welkom – Former professional nurse Eunice Mpanya says she is still waiting for a final decision more than a year after lodging a statutory appeal against her dismissal by the Free State Department of Health.
Mpanya, who worked at Bongani Regional Hospital in Welkom from January 2017 until May 2025, was dismissed under Section 17(3)(a)(i) of the Public Service Act on allegations of abscondment.
She disputes the dismissal, maintaining that it arose from an unresolved workplace accommodation dispute relating to a documented medical condition rather than the abandonment of her employment.
According to documents seen by this publication, the Department requested two specialist medical reports from her treating specialist and engaged with the recommendations before ultimately declining workplace accommodation on operational grounds. Mpanya says she repeatedly communicated her concerns through management, the Employee Assistance Programme (EAP), Labour Relations, her union and formal correspondence, while also receiving ongoing medical treatment and being hospitalised as her health deteriorated.
She maintains that management was fully aware of her circumstances throughout the period later relied upon as alleged abscondment.
Following her dismissal, Mpanya referred the matter for arbitration while simultaneously lodging a statutory appeal with the MEC for Health in June 2025. The arbitration proceedings concluded approximately nine months later with a ruling that the bargaining council lacked jurisdiction to determine the dispute. However, more than a year after lodging her appeal, she says she is still awaiting a final decision despite repeated follow-ups. She further says she has neither been afforded an opportunity to make oral representations nor received the outcome of her appeal.
The prolonged delay, she says, has resulted in significant financial and personal hardship. Since losing her employment, she has lost her income, medical aid, professional registration and financial stability, and now faces the possible sale in execution of her family home. She believes the matter raises broader concerns about workplace accommodation, administrative accountability and delays in finalising statutory appeals within the public service.
In an exclusive interview with this publication, Mpanya said she had exercised patience, but the prolonged uncertainty was now taking a serious toll on her health.
“More than a year ago, I exercised my statutory right to appeal my dismissal because I believed the process existed to give both the Department and myself a fair opportunity to be heard. Today, despite repeated follow-ups, I am still waiting for a final decision.
“My concern is no longer only about my employment, but about what it means when a statutory appeal can remain unresolved for this long while a person’s livelihood, health and family continue to be affected.
“I have continued to cooperate, preserve evidence, communicate respectfully and pursue every available legal and administrative avenue.
“My hope in speaking publicly is not to attack anyone, but to encourage transparency, accountability and timely administration so that no other public servant has to endure prolonged uncertainty while waiting for a decision that has such life-changing consequences.”
Mpanya is not the only public servant whose appeal remains outstanding. This publication understands that several similar matters are awaiting finalisation and will continue reporting on them.
In a separate development within the Free State Department of Health, the appointments of Zukile March and Rosemary Pooe to acting positions for which questions have been raised regarding their qualifications have caused controversy at Bophelo House, with disciplinary processes reportedly underway against officials involved.
March and Pooe, who were appointed during the tenure of MEC Mahlatsi, are receiving acting allowances of approximately R25,000 and R35,000 respectively with just matric.
It remains unclear whether their acting appointments will be extended or whether any review of the payments will follow.
MEC Viceroy Mahlatsi has personally promised to attend to this and he has failed.
What’s sad is Mahlatsi is a former Unionist having led COSATU in Free State.
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