A former commissioner of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) advisory panel, Sibongiseni Thotsejane, has been ordered by the labour court to pay back R2.9m to the V&A Waterfront. Thotsejane, a leading information technology expert, had been secretly working two jobs, drawing two salaries while serving as chief information officer at the V&A Waterfront and as a coordinator at Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT).
The 30-member 4IR commission, set up by President Cyril Ramaphosa in 2019, aimed to help the government capitalize on the opportunities presented by the digital industrial revolution. Thotsejane's actions were discovered when her V&A-issued laptop revealed that she would call in sick while engaging in CPUT work and consulting duties for her private company, FlavaLite Innovations.
Thotsejane was appointed as the V&A's chief information officer in October 2015 while still employed by CPUT, where she had been working since August 2014 with an annual remuneration package of R606,374.96. During her employment at the V&A, she was characterized by late arrivals, missed meetings, high absenteeism, and the submission of numerous medical certificates.
The court proceedings revealed that Thotsejane had misrepresented her departure from a former job at Engen, claiming she had left due to "political challenges" and an ongoing merger. However, it was discovered that she had actually been dismissed for gross misconduct. Additionally, a high court judgment against her in favour of Engen, dated July 29, 2014, related to vehicle finance amounting to R503,786.
Thotsejane's employment history came under scrutiny when she claimed to have left Old Mutual after being headhunted. However, an investigation found that she had been dismissed after a disciplinary inquiry into multiple misconduct allegations. Her CV also stated that she had resigned from Acceleration eMarketing for "career development", but an arbitration award found that she had been dismissed for incapacity.
The V&A had approached the labour court seeking damages, including R1.03m in salary paid to Thotsejane and costs linked to her conduct. Judge Robert Gerald found that Thotsejane had been employed on the strength of her qualifications and previous employment history, and that the V&A would not have employed her had it known the truth about her employment history.
The labour court ordered Thotsejane to pay damages to the V&A, including R1,031,237.46 in respect of her fraudulent misrepresentations, R1,402,005.00 for the engagement of professor Tiko Iyamu, and R464,000.00 for the remuneration of Nokubela Mchunu.
Key points
- The court found that Thotsejane had been employed on the strength of her qualifications and previous employment history, which she had misrepresented.
- Thotsejane was ordered to pay a total of R2.9m to the V&A Waterfront for her actions.
- The 4IR commission, set up by President Cyril Ramaphosa in 2019, is no longer functional after submitting a report to help establish the country's digital roadmap.
