Bonginkosi Madikizela’s ‘cadre’ appointment ‘disgraceful’, says GOOD

The imminent appointment of former Democratic Alliance (DA) provincial leader, Bonginkosi Madikizela, as Western Cape premier Alan Winde’s special advisor has not been well received by the opposition.

Winde wants Madikizela to replace former Western Cape Transport and Public Work MEC, Donald Grant, who retired in November 2021, as his special advisor.

The appointment, however, hasn’t been finalised, the premier’s spokesperson Cayla Murray told The Citizen on Wednesday.

“The national Department of Public Service and Administration must first vet the application, in line with associated regulations,” she said.

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Murray explained that the Western Cape government will be undertaking a strategic review in a bid to improve its service delivery to communities across the province.

She also said Winde is looking to get advice on important priorities he had set out, which includes improving public transport in the Western Cape.

“This is critical if we are to ensure a recovery that creates the jobs needed in the years ahead. As a former MEC of Human Settlements and Transport and Public Works, Mr. Madikizela has the experience and expertise that is required to provide this advisory capacity to the premier,” Murray added.

But opposition party GOOD has voiced its disapproval for Madikizela to assume the position. Madikizela resigned as the DA’s Western Cape leader in April last year over a qualification scandal.

“It is said that his lack of a claimed degree was exposed by members of his party who wanted to remove him as a candidate for mayor of Cape Town.

“The announcement of his soft-landing appointment as a special adviser to Premier Alan Winde is a disgraceful example of jobs-for-pals, or what the DA calls cadre deployment,” GOOD secretary-general, Brett Herron said in a statement.

READ MORE: ‘DA officials at war with each other,’ says qualifications whistleblower

He said Winde’s intention to appoint “his serial liar pal” exposes the premier’s “government of integrity as a sham”.

“The role of advising the premier has no purpose other than to pay a handsome salary to a DA cadre,” Herron added.

Madikizela was suspended by Winde as transport and public works MEC for two weeks, following an investigation by the DA’s federal legal commission into the qualifications scandal.

At the time, Daily Maverick reported that Madikizela did not hold a BCom degree in human resource management from Unisa, despite claiming so in his official biography on the Western Cape government website.

Madikizela had claimed that he obtained his BCom in 1999 and later an IT diploma from the National Institute of Information Technology.

However, he then made an about-turn and revealed that he did not complete his BCom qualification.