The Citizen reports that the Ministry of Defence and Military Veterans confirmed over the weekend that Irene Mpolweni, Director-General (DG) of the Department of Military Veterans, had been placed on precautionary suspension.

The Ministry said that it was not in a position to disclose the nature of the allegations or charges. It stated: “We have a duty to respect employer-employee confidentiality. We will pronounce once the entire disciplinary process had run its course.” The Ministry insisted that suspension did not necessarily presume guilt on Mpolweni’s part. An acting DG will be appointed in due course. Last October, the United Democratic Movement’s (UDM’s) 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 Mpolweni had made unilateral changes in service providers that had negatively impacted the delivery of services to veterans. He further alleged that the 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.

• Read the original of the report in the above regard at The Citizen
• Read too, Military veterans department cites employer-employee confidentiality on reasons for DG's suspension, at TimesLive

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