The Sunday Independent writes that the Department of Labour (DOL) is allegedly in a shambles, hit by a string of resignations of senior managers and failing to meet performance targets.  

At least 10 managers are said to have resigned in just a year because of what insiders say is a toxic environment of verbal abuse and bullying by the director-general, Thobile Lamati, and the chief operations officer (COO), Marsha Bronkhorst.  More staffers are said to be contemplating resigning.  The two are allegedly targeting senior managers in provinces to deflect attention from their incompetence, which has led the department into disarray.  The department is allegedly failing to meet its performance targets in ensuring compliance to labour laws such as employment equity, occupational health and safety (OHS) standards and the Unemployment Insurance Fund.  Those who resigned include the provincial heads and directors in the Eastern Cape, Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Limpopo and North West.  Some of the alleged verbal abuse of employees is apparently meted out during the departmental executive committee (Dexcom) meetings.  Bronkhorst declined to comment and referred questions to Lamati, who said the allegations against Bronkhorst and him “are baseless and devoid of any semblance of truth and misleading”.

• Read this report by Lebogang Seale in full at The Sunday Independent

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