Refilwe Tsipane apologises for Mpumalanga traffic posts scandal

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Premier Refilwe Mtshweni-Tsipane

She said the process will now begin afresh.


Premier Refilwe Tsipane has apologised to the scores of young people who were undermined when her government chose to hire “biological children” of officials in the provincial traffic cop learnership program.

The EFF have laid corruption cases following the scandal.

Tsipane said ever since she was elected the Premier of Mpumalanga in May 2019 she had tried everything in her power to “clean” the provincial government and had committed herself to “transparent governance”.

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The EFF said they are preparing to lay a case against Tsipane over her alleged role in the appointment of 8 of the learners and relatives of her bodyguards as well as another official who worked in Tsipane’s office and who allegedly influenced the selection of his daughter.

“I was disappointed,” Tsipane said.

“[When I learnt] in the meeting that proper due diligence had not been done by the department,” she said in a press statement, referring to MEC Gabisile Shabala’s safety and security department.

She said “material requirements” were not met” – such as the selection of candidates without drivers licences to be traffic cops.

The provincial government therefore has taken the decision to stop the program and reopen it to the public to apply having been found to be “procedurally and fatally flawed”, she said.

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Tsipane said the “fair and justifiable conclusion” was reached after they had sat with agriculture MEC Vusi Shongwe who is leader of government business, Shabala and other stakeholders.

She said she first met with Shabalala and other representatives in the safety and security department after the nepotism scandal caused a public outcry when the selected learners were supposed to start on 4 January 2021.

The learners were taken from the Traffic College in Bushbuckridge and were to be placed in the department’s learnership program.

“In essence all 32 000 applicants will undergo the process of evaluation.” said the Premier.

(edited by MLM)

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