Pretoria - The National Union of Public Service and Allied Workers (Nupsaw) threatened to rally prosecutors under its wing to shutdown magistrate’s courts if the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) fails to eliminate allegations of racism and nepotism influencing recruitments and appointments.
Members of the union blocked the gate of the Department of Justice in Pretoria in an effort to convince management to finally agree to engage them on the allegations of discriminatory conduct which has been spewing out for several years.
They said they were furious the management refused to engage with them last week and locked the gate and then sent its members of the union from pillar to post regarding meetings where they alleged that none of the severe staff frustrations were addressed.
National convenor Solly Malema said the prosecutors who joined him, and those who could not make it, were speaking out against racism, failure to increase salaries, nepotism and the marginalisation of black prosecutors.
He said black prosecutors were being undermined and appointed to work in the rural areas and overlooked for promotions and paid far less than their colleagues from different races. He said they actually watched their white and Indian colleagues with less experience ascend above them.
Malema said the union did not understand why was it that Chief Prosecutor Phumeza Futshane who was appointed in Johannesburg south in 2014 was suspended on suspicion of nepotism because her husband, advocate Andrew Chauke, was the South Gauteng Director of Public Prosecutions but nothing was done to manager in the Eastern Cape after complains of racism and nepotism.
Pretoria News has seen a report commissioned by Director of the National Prosecuting Authority Shamila Batohi where advocate Luvuyo Bono investigated and found that one Indian Eastern Cape Manager was wrong in giving an Indian colleague a supervisory role over her colleagues who were more experienced than her.
Prosecutor Khotso Seitlheko from the Free State said he was sent to work in the Eastern Cape rural area after an Indian female colleague who was actually appointed to the post wrote to the managers at the East London cluster that her dietary and religious beliefs would not be accommodated in that rural area.
“As a Sotho Speaking person I was not told I could come up with an excuse not to go work in a Xhosa speaking village. I was just told you go there because you are black, it's a black area. However, when I arrived there I realised that the person who is actually a supervisor there is an Indian man.
“This Indian man I encountered told me that I am stupid and would insult me comparing me to a white prosecutor who worked in an area with just one police station as opposed to my wide village that had up to seven police stations that I was covering. This person told me that I would never go anywhere, and this very same person formed part of a panel of interviewers when posts were advertised.”
Seitlheko said AfriForum’s intervention led to the suspension of Futshane but the National Prosecuting Authority has not suspended Eastern Cape managers accused of racism to at least investigate them.
According to AfriForum advocate Gerrie Nel, AfriForum continued to put pressure on the National Prosecuting Authority which finally led to formal investigations into Futshane. The organisation has been demanding her investigation since 2019.
However, the group of employees accused of racism in the Easten Cape are suing their colleagues who accused them of defamation of character. They took them to the Grahamstown High Court (now Makhanda) on January 28 and are awaiting judgment.
Spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority Sipho Ngwema could not be reached to give his reaction to the union’s threat to shutdown courts if they do not suspend managers accused of racism by colleagues but they suspended a black senior prosecutor on suspicion of nepotism.
They demand the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services to respond to their grievances within seven days to prevent a bigger demonstration
The union’s demands:
* All district court prosecutors who have served for four years and more be promoted to a Regional Court prosecutor’s salary level
* Transparency with regards to investigations into reports of corruption by middle-management
* Should there not be any suspension within a week of the parties accused of wrongdoing, then Futshane must be reinstated
*We further demand that staff member Karen van Rensburg be immediately relieved of her duties for compromising investigations against white and Indian colleagues
Pretoria News