PSA slams Nkandla legal hearings

March 2014 Nkandla Jacob Zuma's residence

March 2014 Nkandla Jacob Zuma's residence

Published Nov 23, 2014

Share

Durban - “It’s a game of charades.”

That’s the view of the Public Service Association (PSA) in the build-up to the disciplinary hearings of 12 senior Department of Public Works employees affiliated to its union.

The workers are required to answer for the exorbitant costs to President Jacob Zuma’s Nkandla home upgrade, with the official hearing due to start next month.

“The department wants to keep us guessing with all their tactics,” said Claude Naiker, KwaZulu-Natal manager of the PSA.

Naiker claimed the department deliberately delayed the release of documents they had asked for and was in breach of the code signed by all government departments regarding the use of outside chairmen and prosecuting teams for disciplinary hearings.

He is also suspicious about the department’s ploy not to suspend the affected workers, given the serious nature of the charges. “But we won’t be deterred by the department’s attempts to destabilise our defence,” Naiker said.

An application has been made by PSA, to the chairman of the hearings, to have outside legal experts barred from handling proceedings. “Only officials from any government department are permitted to preside over disciplinary hearings.”

The Department of Public Works’ legal adviser, Philip Masilo, said they were not aware of the application made by the PSA but would deal with it when it was received.

Masilo said the PSA was informed about the outside legal experts who had been hired to handle the disciplinary hearings. “Why are they objecting now?” he asked.

Masilo cited three reasons why legal experts from outside the department were hired:

* To ensure impartiality and objectivity during the hearings.

* The appointed chairmen must be of a higher rank than subjects of a hearing.

* Those handling disciplinary hearings should not be involved in the matter.

He said: “It shows we have no malicious intent and want outside people so there can be no suspicion of bias and the hearings are conducted in the right spirit.”

He also said that, for the hearings, chairmen and prosecution teams would be needed for each of the 12 matters.

About not suspending the employees concerned, Masilo said they believed it wasn’t necessary.

He denied documents requested by the PSA were not submitted timeously. He also took a stab at the PSA’s sudden about-turn to have the media barred from the hearings.

On Wednesday, legal representatives for Independent Newspapers and Media24 applied for media access to the hearings, but advocate Nhlanhla Mfeka turned down the application.

During robust debate among the affected parties, before Mfeka pronounced on the matter, the PSA submitted that their members no longer wanted the media at the hearings.

PSA member Jean Rindel, who previously agreed to having the media present, has since had a change of heart, the union raised with Mfeka.

Rindel’s hearing is set down for the first week in December.

Sunday Tribune

Related Topics: