By Sitha Maliwa:
The Department of Social Development has been thrown into turmoil following the suspension of its outspoken Head of Communication, Lumka Oliphant, after the Sunday Times exposed Minister Sisisi Tolashe’s R3 million two-week trip to New York.
Oliphant, who has long been recognized as one of the government’s top-performing communicators, believes the suspension has nothing to do with her performance but everything to do with political victimisation.
“I have just received a letter of suspension from the department following an exposé by the Sunday Times on a trip to New York where Minister Sisisi Tolashe spent R3 million for two weeks,” she declared. “The department, Sisisi in particular, believes that I leaked the information … just because I have worked with almost every journalist and worked at City Press in particular.”
Her fury cuts deep. She accuses Tolashe -“who does not even have a Grade 12” – of ridiculing her work despite her GCIS ranking as one of the government’s most effective communicators. “She has taken her political fight with Bathabile Dlamini to the department and has been victimising me in every meeting,” Oliphant said, adding that she chose to give the minister “the respect she deserves as a leader and umntu omdala.”
The charges against her, she argues, are a smokescreen. “The trumped-up charges, they say, are as a result of the findings of the AG, which have nothing to do with me. If they are talking about the AG findings, then the DG should be suspended, because we have a multi-billion finding by the AG that speaks to the lack of management of Sassa by the department.”
Behind the political maneuvers, Oliphant points to a sinister hand: Ministerial Advisor Ngwako Kgatla. “This suspension is because one of the advisors, Ngwako Kgatla, has been telling everyone that I am the minister’s enemy because I worked with Bathabile. Actually, anyone who is not speaking with the advisor is moved around.”
She does not hold back on claims of nepotism either, naming officials Thabani Buthelezi, Zanele Simmons and Osborne Masilela as examples of how the department reshuffles its staff. “The very person who is now acting Chief of Staff is a niece of Kgatla and even lied in her CV that she used to volunteer for the late Hlengiwe Mkhize.”
But even as the walls close in, Oliphant vows she will not be silenced. “I will NOT be intimidated by Sisisi, who must still go and finish her Grade 12. Ndim ndilapha etshatshalazeni bethuna. Andimoyiki uSisisi.”
She insists her professional record speaks for itself. “To show that I know my work, as they were busy with the charges, my work is recognised internationally and confirmed today for an award.”
And in true defiance, she has thrown the lines of communication wide open: “My phone is charged and remains open for anyone who wishes to take an interview.”
As the scandal around the minister’s R3 million trip grows louder, Oliphant’s dramatic fightback promises that this is only the beginning of a storm that could shake the department to its core.- @NewsSA_Online
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