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GroundUp reports that the health department in the Eastern Cape has been ordered by the Labour Court to reinstate a “whistleblower” who was removed from her job in a district human resources office after she raised the alarm about a colleague attempting to get her niece short-listed for a job.
Judge Zolashe Lallie found that “an occupational detriment” had been committed against Vuyelwa Thelma Tanda and ruled that in terms of the Protected Disclosures Act she had made a “protected disclosure” when she reported the attempted nepotism to deputy director of HR management, Charmain Jaggers. The judge ordered that Tanda be compensated with R162,402 and that she be given her job back. Lawyers for the health MEC argued that in terms of the Protected Disclosures Act, a disclosure made in the normal scope of employment could not be protected. However, Judge Lallie said the argument that Tanda had not made a protected disclosure was not supported by the evidence that director Mzoli Njalo was “intentionally acting in breach of recruitment procedures” and attempting to give the other employee’s niece an unfair advantage. “In the circumstances of this case … the report that Mrs Njalo was instructing Tanda to be complicit in nepotism in violation of the recruitment policy constituted a protected disclosure. The report was made in good faith to Jaggers,” the judge ruled. He noted that it was common cause that Jaggers had refused to intervene in the matter.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Tania Broughton at GroundUp
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page