Press Statement dated 5 November 2018
The Federation of Unions of South Africa (FEDUSA) wants Higher Education Minister Naledi Pandor to intervene in the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) labour debacle which resulted in academic Snyman Ohloff taking his own life, as a matter of urgency.
On Thursday CPUT management refused to meet with the leadership of National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU), an affiliate of FEDUSA in the tertiary education sector who wanted to understand what had led Ohloff to see no other solution to his dispute with the institution but to end his own life. Snyman worked as Head of Department of Tourism and Events at CPUT, was active as a member of NTEU and leaves behind his wife, Maretha and their two boys, Krause and Stef.
CPUT continued to keep Ohloff under suspension for the past 8 months blatantly disregarding the fact that referred the matter to the CCMA for arbitration. He wanted to find resolution and on 3 October he settled the dispute with his employer hoping for speedier resolution. FEDUSA wants to see speedy for the Ohloff family and believes that failure of institutional governance should never be allowed to lead the loss of a life – of a father, husband, union member and a colleague of the union federation’s membership.
FEDUSA believes that the manner in which Ohloff was treated by CPUT had a direct affect on where his family find themselves today and whose management has apparently We believe forgotten the human element of employer relations.
Issued by Frank Nxumalo, Media and Research Officer, Federation of Unions of South Africa (Fedusa)