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The refusal by Director General (DG) of Labour, Jimmy Manyi, to publicly apologise before Parliament for his attempt to inflate the Department's budget by R 1 billion must be met by action from the Minister. The DA revealed that Manyi had attempted to inflate the budget of the department, in order to offer a post facto legitimate reason for requesting the additional funding in the first place. Upon hearing this, the Minister of Labour, Membathisi Mdladlana stated that the behaviour of Manyi was "an embarrassment for the department" and that Manyi would have to apologise before Parliament - and if he did not do so, then he "would have to face the consequences".

Well, Manyi has failed to apologise for his behaviour. He appeared before the committee this morning, but failed to say anything to that effect and instead hid behind the flimsy argument made by the Chair of the Portfolio Committee, Lumka Yengeni that the comment by Mdladlana (and therefore his apology) was not on the agenda of the labour committee. This can only mean that he now has to face consequences for his behaviour.

Once again the ANC is hiding behind obfuscation to avoid dealing with the real issue - Manyi tried to inflate the budget of the DoL in order to legitimise his own request for additional funding. At a time when all government departments need to cut down on expenses, Manyi has purposefully gone in the opposite direction to increase the fiscal burden. The DA is calling on the Minister to take the requisite action as promised.