Just as the DA accuses the state of meddling in the affairs of the NPA, the ruling DA can be accused of doing the same in the Western Cape, writes Brian Isaacs.
My late father Samuel Abraham David Isaacs (a carpenter) and my late mother Maureen Gwendoline Isaacs (who looked after her five sons) taught me the value of honesty.
It's a value I try to carry over in all aspects of my life. Now imagine if this kind of honesty were to be carried over into the workings of the South African state. What a progressive state we would be!
More and more the state (ANC), the Western Cape (DA) included, uses its state machinery against its opponents.
One sees this happening all the time. The charges against Pravin Gordhan, and their subsequent withdrawal, are a case in point.
But just as the DA accuses the state of meddling in the affairs of the NPA, the ruling regime (DA) in the Western Cape can be accused of doing the same.
A good example of this is Brian Williams (former director of the WC Department of Labour), who refused to sign a cheque off to a service provider which did not render a skills service it was supposed to. He was immediately suspended.
He was reinstated after a lengthy battle with the Department of Labour. He left because he knew he would be hounded.
This is playing itself out at the University of the Western Cape. The council of UWC suspended a council member, Mr Songezo Maqula, and expelled a council member, the same Brian Williams, and they now have to use their own resources to have themselves reinstated.
UWC accuses them of inciting students at a prayer meeting in the Fees Must Fall campaign during the latter part of 2015. In fact, the two persons helped restore peace at UWC. Their case is to be heard in the high court on November 3 and 4.
I can also bear testimony to this dishonest practice. I was the principal of South Peninsula High School for 32 years.
Certain officials in WCED have used its machinery to hound teachers who dare to discipline students and who constructively criticise its uneducational policies.
Formerly advantaged residents have been influenced to lay charges of noise nuisance against the South Peninsula High School because it uses a public address system. This case has lasted for four years at a cost of R60 000 to the school and no cost to the previously advantaged residents in the area.
I was found guilty of noise nuisance and Magistrate Williams of the Wynberg Magistrate's Court emphasised that she found me guilty of making political statements over the PA system. I was then handed down a judgment of caution.
How ridiculous!
As principal of South Peninsula High School (SPHS), certain officials in the WCED and political heads in the ruling regime in WC (DA) hounded me by laying charges of misconduct (not serious misconduct) in three separate disciplinary hearings against me.
Mr Girchwin Philander, WCED Labour Relations, who prosecuted a disciplinary hearing against me for a period of 19 months, made damaging false findings against me in his closing arguments in which he called for my dismissal.
When my lawyer (Mr Abubakr Hendricks of Lamara Hendricks Attorneys) pointed this out to him, Mr Philander said it was a simple cut and paste error without blinking an eyelid or rendering an apology.
My life is decided by a cut and paste error!
WCED said Mr Philander had been dealt with. WCED was not prepared to disclose what sanctions had been applied to Mr Philander. Such transparency by WCED! That is another reason why I say WCED Labour Relations is a law unto itself.
Again, I call for an independent inquiry into the working of WCED labour relations and who decides who will be prosecuted. The WCED labour relations is at present hounding a colleague of mine at a high school in Kuils River who, also for speaking his mind, has been on suspension for six months.
To defend myself, I have had to spend in excess of R60 000. I have to spend more money at the ELRC and high court to get myself reinstated. The officials who were involved take no monetary risks.
I believe that if the principles of objectivity, honesty, accountability and consultation were applied in my case, and in my colleague's case in Kuils River, we would not have been hauled in front of disciplinary hearings. We would not have been suspended - nor me dismissed.
I always speak truth to power no matter the consequences. Unless officials in the state take responsibility (monetarily) for bringingcharges against workers, this abuse of power will continue.
* Isaacs is the former principal of South Peninsula High School.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.
Cape Argus