A former senior civil servant claims ANC KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) chair Siboniso Duma pressured him and his department to cough up R10m for “Christmas” payouts to ANC staff members in the province.
Nhlakanipho Nkontwana, former head of the KZN economic development, tourism and environmental affairs department, made the allegations in a letter he wrote to ANC leader Jeff Radebe in November last year.
Radebe is the leader of the ANC’s 67-member-strong KZN provincial task team. In the correspondence, Nkontwana claimed that Duma, then also the department’s MEC, victimised him, engineered his suspension and punitively downgraded his performance score after he refused to release the R10m.
Around October 2022, the MEC instructed that an amount of R10m be allocated as ‘Christmas’ for ANC staff.
— Nhlakanipho Nkontwana
“Following the appointment of MEC Duma on 11 August 2022, my working relationship with him initially proceeded well. However, around October 2022, the MEC instructed that an amount of R10m be allocated as ‘Christmas’ for ANC staff. I refused to carry out this instruction, considering it both unlawful and irregular,” said Nkontwana’s letter.
Nkontwana writes that in June 2023, Duma summoned him to his office and asked him to “step aside” as he wanted access to the department’s funds.
“I refused. During the meeting, the MEC stated that I and other HODs [head of departments] who were ANC members should vacate our positions so that ‘their own people’ could be appointed and access government funds,” said the former civil servant.
He claimed that when Duma was MEC, he used entities that reported to the department for personal and political reasons.
He explained that in August 2023, Duma, through the department’s chief financial officer Khaya Mthethwa, instructed him to write a letter to the Recording Industry of South Africa (RiSA), the organisers of the South African Music Awards (SAMAs), committing the department to sponsoring the hosting of the annual prize-giving ceremony in the province for three years.
“I refused to submit the guarantee, as doing so would have breached the prescripts of the Public Finance Management Act and the prescribed approval procedures,” said Nkontwana’s letter.
Later in August 2023, RiSA made a presentation to the provincial cabinet, which then approved hosting of the SAMAs in KZN for three years. However, in October 2023, Duma cancelled the deal ater a public outcry over the R28m the department was proposing to spend on the event.
A week after the cabinet approved the hosting of the SAMAs in the province, Nkontwana was called to a meeting that was also attended by then premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube and Duma.
At the meeting, the letter says, he was told that because of poor performance in the 2021/22 year, he should consent to being transferred to the department of community safety and liaison.
Four days later, Nkontwana filed a grievance with the Public Service Commission (PSC), challenging the claim that his performance was not satisfactory. Early in October 2023, Dube-Ncube suspended him, alleging poor performance.
The PSC, which released the results of its findings in March 2024, ruled that the decision to downgrade Nkontwana’s performance was unfair and nullified the decision. Nkontwana challenged his suspension at the labour court and won. He was reinstated.
Duma, who has since been appointed MEC for transport and human settlements, did not respond to detailed requests for comment.
In March 2025, RiSA filed papers at the Durban high court, demanding R7.7m from the department to cover the costs the organisation incurred in preparation for the 2023 SAMAs, before the event was cancelled.
In its founding affidavit, RiSA said shortly after the event was cancelled in October 2023, its officials and the department entered into a verbal agreement in which the latter agreed to pay the R7.7m.
“Despite numerous undertakings to make payment to the plaintiff, the first defendant did not pay the agreed settlement amount to the plaintiff,” said RiSA’s court papers, adding that in August 2024 “the first defendant agreed to pay the settlement as soon as possible”.
However, the department still didn’t pay, and in November 2024, officials agreed to settle the R7.7m in two tranches, one of R4m, to be paid by 10 December 2024, and R3.7m, to be settled by 31 March 2025.
The department failed to keep its promise, prompting RiSA to approach the court. The department is opposing the matter.
Neither Radebe nor ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula responded to queries.
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