The eThekwini municipality’s head of health has been found guilty of unprofessional conduct by the Health Professions Council of South Africa.
|||Durban - The eThekwini municipality’s head of health, Nomakhosi Gxagxisa, has been found guilty of unprofessional conduct by the Health Professions Council of South Africa. The funding is a sequel to complaints against her by the South African Municipal Workers Union.
The council confirmed that the complaint had been received in August 2011 and she was subsequently found guilty on two charges.
Bertha Peters-Scheepers, the spokeswoman for the council, said Gxagxisa was ordered to pay an admission-of-guilt fine of R20 000.
The charges against Gxagxisa were that between June 1992 and November 2011 she practised as a medical practitioner while not registered with the council.
The other charge was that, between June 1992 and November 2011, she brought the profession into disrepute for purporting to be a registered medical practitioner.
The union’s provincial secretary, Jaycee Ncanana, said it had been vindicated by the ruling.
“When we initially raised the matter with the municipality we were told we were out of order.”
In 2011, Gxagxisa was reassigned to the office of the deputy city manager after it was found that when she was employed in 2009 she had not been registered with the council, which had been a requirement of the post.
Municipal spokesman Thabo Mofokeng said: “She was given a chance to comply and once that was finalised she moved back.”
Previously questions about the validity of her qualifications were raised after it emerged that she had a diploma in medicine from Odessa in the Ukraine.
Gxagxisa was previously also accused of nepotism after her son, Nceba, was employed as a principal clerk in her department.
The Independent Municipal and Allied Trade Union said she had created the post “out of thin air”.
Nceba’s post was terminated after it emerged he had failed to produce the qualifications required for the job.
Mofokeng said the municipality would comment on the findings in due course.
wendy.jassondacosta@inl.co.za
The Mercury