By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Director General (DG) of the Military Veterans Department, Irene Mpolweni, has been suspended.
The Ministry has not disclosed the nature of the allegations nor charges against her, claiming it would be an infringement of confidentiality.
The ministry is not in a position to disclose the nature of the allegations or charges at this stage, as we have a duty to respect employer-employee confidentiality. We will pronounce once the entire disciplinary process has run its course,” said department spokesperson Cornelius Monama.
“However, we wish to place on record that this suspension does not necessarily presume guilt on her part. It is intended to give the employer an opportunity to gather evidence and establish facts,” he said.
Last October, President of the United Democratic Movement (UDM) Bantu Holomisa shared a letter he had written to former Minister of Defense Thandi Modise, regarding complaints he had received about Mpolweni.
In his letter, Holomisa alleged that she had made unilateral changes in service providers that negatively impacted the delivery of services to the veterans.
He further alleged that her entire department had taken a cue from her lack of interest in serving military veterans.
Holomisa also accused the DG of having a bias towards KwaZulu-Natal in her dealings with the military veterans.
Some months later, the Umkhonto weSizwe Liberation War Veterans went on a media blitz, demanding a sweeping overhaul at the Military Veterans department and the removal of Mpolweni.
Monama said an acting director-general would be appointed in due course.