Minister, senior personal secretary at loggerheads'

MBABANE – Working relations between Nelisiwe Shongwe, the Minister of Information, Communication and Technology, and her Senior Personal Secretary Nomsa Simelane are said to be strained.

Principal Secretary in the ministry Nathaniel Mahluza, in an interview last week, confirmed that the working atmosphere in the office was no longer conducive.
“There is an issue of our senior personal secretary being discussed internally and since this is a personal issue I cannot go into details in the media,” was all Mahluza could say.

Both Minister Shongwe and Government Press Secretary Macanjana Motsa, when sought for comment on the contentious matter, referred further enquiries to the principal secretary.
The bone of contention, according to intercepted documents currently in possession of this newspaper, is: “The way the minister’s office is operating, in terms of duties for the senior personal secretary, which are done by the private secretary is not the normal procedure for a government office.”

It further states: “Job descriptions for the senior personal secretary and private secretary could help save the situation instead of two people doing the same thing – let us have one do these things. The job descriptions will clearly spell-out who does what and how far one should move into the other’s arena.”
Gcebile Ndlovu, a former scribe, is Minister Shongwe’s Private Secretary (now referred to as Personal Assistant).
Allen McFadden, the Executive Secretary of the Civil Service Commission, confirmed the dysfunctional relations in the minister’s office.

Nomsa Simelane, the Senior Personal Secretary, declined to commit herself on the grounds that the matter was currently being handled by higher authorities within the government structures.
A well-informed insider stressed that the duo of Minister Shongwe and senior personal secretary were presently trying hard to force strained smiles at the workplace.

Evart Madlopha, the Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Public Service, said: “Yes, the matter you’re asking me about is being handled administratively within the relevant government structures.”
Civil Servants fall directly under Madlopha’s portfolio which is headed by Minister Mtiti Fakudze.
So serious are the differences between the minister and the senior personal secretary that PS Mahluza is now caught in the ‘crossfire.’

There has been an exchange of letters between the principal secretary and senior personal secretary pertaining to the prevailing scenario at the minister’s office.

...minister locks Simelane out

MBABANE – The reportedly poor work relations between Minister Nelisiwe Shongwe and Senior Personal Secretary Nomsa Simelane has disintegrated into lower levels.

This has led to the minister locking the secretary out of her office.
Simelane, as per documents in possession of this newspaper, was locked out in September last year.
“The door from the senior personal secretary’s to the minister’s office is locked and the keys are kept with the private secretary,” read the documents in part. The private secretary is the only one with the key to the minister’s office.

The senior personal secretary, as per the correspondence to Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Public Service Evart Madlopha, feels abused to run helter-skelter looking for the private secretary to unlock the door in the event the minister reported earlier than her (private secretary) for duty.

“I feel abused if not ridiculed to be told to look for the private secretary to open for the minister,” reads the document. “I’ve to ask for assistance from the cleaners if the private secretary happens to be out of the building. I find it very absurd on my part.”

For the minister, as per the letter addressed to PS Madlopha, to wait at the senior personal secretary’s office “is also very embarrassing to the callers of the office”.
Simelane, in her correspondence to Madlopha, wants the issue of the lock-out addressed once and for all.

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