MINISTER MUST SHOW RESPECT - JUSTICE PS

MBABANE – Thembinkosi Mamba, Principal Secretary in the Ministry, of Justice and Constitutional Affairs said Minister Sibusiso Shongwe must consider his (PS) age before he could utter such remarks in a public forum.

The PS was responding to questions after Minister Shongwe had told senators that Mamba’s act of not showing up in Parliament was sheer disrespect (kwedzelela).

In vernacular, Mamba said; “Kudzingeka kutsi abuke kutsi ngingakanani kuye mine.”
“The minister must consider the fact that I am older than him. Is it appropriate for him to refer to me as being disrespectful and disregard my age? I am taking exception to this matter.

“I haven’t met with the minister and I do not think it is necessary because there are relevant government forums where I can address my concern. I have a right to protect myself from the embarrassment he subjected me to in a public forum,” said the PS.

Mamba said he was guided by professional ethics in whatever he did. He said the public could read between the lines.
The PS reiterated that he took exception to all what the minister was saying and doing. In Parliament, the minister said if he was accorded more powers in his position as minister, he would surely crack the whip in the ministry to a high dimension.

When drawn for comment concerning this particular remark, Mamba said it favoured the minister in his own right. The PS said he had been in the ministry for a relatively long time and that there was little he could do to put himself in a certain environment. “I am guided by working principles, whether I like an individual or not. I usually tell people that differences must be left outside the working environment,” Mamba said.
The minister had further told senators that the PS was not present even during his appearance before the House of Assembly’s portfolio committee.
When pressed further for comment on the matter, the PS was reluctant to discuss it in the media, saying he knows the right forums to address such issues.

“You can ask the minister for details so he can tell you how he came to say such. However, I am taking serious exception to what he said. If he sees that there is something I am not doing right, there are forums he should register his concerns through than going to the public domain,” reiterated the PS.

Mamba said he did not like to address issues in the public domain as there were many forums within the government system where one could register a concern.
He insisted that he would not be in a position to comment on what the minister said in Parliament and that Shongwe was the rightful person to comment on what he said.

He said the minister knew where he derived such remarks from and what prompted him to make such utterances. Asked if the minister had asked him (PS) to attend Parliament, again the PS refused to be drawn further to comment on the matter.

The minister told Senate on Tuesday that he was astounded and didn’t know why the PS did this to him. He said he was clueless why the PS did not come to support him in Parliament. The minister said the PS, together with other officials from the Ministry of Justice, must show up if called upon to do so, whether or not they liked him.

The PS, however, said all communication in the ministry came through his office and then circulated to all the departments.
“That is a strong statement that can be uttered in a working environment, whether we like him or not. As a politician, I do not know whether there were no relevant forums where the minister could have addressed such a matter,” Mamba said.
Senate Deputy President Ngomuyayona Gamedze said the matter was a cause for concern and needed urgent attention as it signalled that something was wrong in the ministry.

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