I was pleased to see that the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Council sent five delegates to the APAC conference in Port Elizabeth to discuss good governance (Alberton Record, October 30) and I wish to point out that this not only benefits municipal governance, but also filters down to business and NGOs in the area.
Thanks to the involvement of councillors in community affairs. For instance, a few years ago, Councillor Izak Berg, who featured in the article, made use of his expertise to draft a disciplinary code for an NGO he chaired at the time.
In that code he prescribed several of the principles found in the Code of Good Practice of the Labour Relations Act, among others the need to conduct an impartial investigation into alleged misconduct before holding a disciplinary hearing.
Earlier this year that organisation fired a senior social worker after she had pointed out some malpractices. A number of spurious charges were fabricated and Councillor Izak Berg’s disciplinary code was totally disregarded in order to conceal the real reason for dismissal.
The dismissal was, of course, found to be unfair by the CCMA, but the damage had been done and cannot be rectified by any compensation. It is, however, gratifying to learn that this week the High Court in Port Elizabeth has found that it is “a breach of a legal duty” if an investigation prior to a disciplinary hearing is not held, since the charges in themselves “have a serious impact on the employee”.
One trusts that whistle blowers will breathe a bit easier after this, since the Port Elizabeth judgement will, no doubt, be taken into consideration by our labour courts and CCMAs in future.
Lage Vitus
Secretary, Alberton Service Providers’ Networking Forum
I am glad to see that some residents in Alberton appreciate what we as councillors do in the community and why it is so important to have councillors in communities with experience and expertise.
I know of this code of conduct and the amount of research that went into it, I am also glad to hear that it is still used years after I left this NGO. It is a pity that it was disregarded, but justice prevailed and was proven due to the fact that the CCMA found the action of the NGO to be unfair.
It has become very difficult for whistle blowers in South Africa; ask me I have paid a huge price for it, but it is the right thing to do!
I must say being involved in numerous court cases in the past few years to fight for justice has been an eye opener for me. The testimony in some of these court cases “under oath” highlighted many concerns to me of how many people are currently in jail today that are innocent and how many were handed the death penalty while also being innocent.
Izak Berg
