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The suspension today of two senior officials in the Department of Water Affairs, the Acting DG, Ms Nobulele Ngele and the CFO, Mr Onesmus Ayaya, suggests that the rot in this Department is deeper than originally thought. While the Departmental media statement suggests these are precautionary suspensions and no guilt should be inferred, speculation will deservedly run rife. When one considers that the DG was placed on special leave pending an investigation into alleged financial irregularities in July 2009, and remains on special leave to this day, then one wonders who is left among senior management to run one of the country's most important Departments.

To make matters worse there is a new Minister who has no experience in water governance. Minister Molewa has walked into her new office and the officials she would normally rely on to bring her up to speed on the major governance challenges in the Department have all been suspended.

There is a need to bring stability to the Water Department and the new Minister will need to reassure the public that she has matters under control and that there are contingency plans to ensure the Department ‘s daily functions are not compromised. For the moment, it is difficult to see how these latest suspensions will not have an adverse effect on the business of the Department.

The report on the investigation following the suspension of the DG, released in May 2010, paints a damning picture of over R1bn irregular expenditure from, among other things, the irregular extension of contracts, deviation from procurement policies and the paying of service providers without contracts being in place.

The AG, limited by the scope of the investigation given to him, hinted at broader problems requiring urgent action. Further, the AG suggested in his recommendations that corrective action being taken against officials of the Department. The AG himself calls in the report for decisive action by the Minister on this matter, and notes correctly that corrective action should not just be taken on the limited cases reported on in the report. This he says would only address the symptoms, and not the underlying causes.
The latest suspensions in the Department suggest indeed that further investigations have followed the initial report.

Considering the severe challenges that South Africa faces in the water sector, including failing infrastructure, the worsening state of health of rivers and dams, and poor compliance and enforcement by the Department of Water Affairs, we can ill-afford for scarce public funds to be wasted. Order in the Department must be restored as soon as possible.