Parliament – Tuesday, 22 January 2019 – Parliament reaffirms its commitment to a work environment that is based on the values of openness, responsiveness, accountability, professionalism and integrity. In this regard, Parliament has ensured that the circumstances surrounding the tragic passing of one of its managers, Mr Lennox Garane, are swiftly subjected to an inquiry by an independent body established in terms of the Constitution, the Public Service Commission (PCS).
The Presiding Officers of Parliament took a conscious decision that this matter be investigated externally by such a statutory body to ensure procedural fairness, transparency and accountability. Since it began its inquiry in 2018, we understand that the Commission has interacted with various people who could assist it with its investigation.
While the Commission is carrying out its function, Parliament has opted not to issue any public commentary on its work out of respect for the bereaved family and the independence of the inquiry.
We have noted with disappointment and concern a public campaign by a group of former staff members pertaining to both the tragedy and the circumstances of their departure from Parliament. We understand that a couple of civil society organisations have been roped into this campaign. Parliament denounces these individuals’ attempt to exploit the tragic situation for narrow personal ends and to unduly influence the work of the Commission.
The opportunistic claims made by this group that they left Parliament due to its “toxicity” cannot be backed by any factual evidence. It is unfortunate that the listed civil society organisations have opted to jump on the bandwagon of this campaign, which is preemptive to the outcome of the independent inquiry, and without doing basic fact check regarding the group’s unfounded allegations against Parliament.
We wish to state for the record that none of the persons listed as former staff members at Parliament left the institutions due to bullying as alleged in a document issued publicly by the group.
While the reasons pertaining to these former staff members’ departure from Parliament are diverse - as supported by their resignation letters, exit interviews and CCMA ruling - the majority of them seem to share a desire to return to Parliament:
- Ms Martina Della Togna: Her five-year fixed term contract of employment as Multi Media Production Manager came to an end on 31 January 2016. Ms Della Togna wanted her contract to be renewed for another 5 years, and thus took the matter to the CCMA. Her case was dismissed. Since her departure from Parliament, Ms Della Togna has applied several times to rejoin Parliament in various capacities, including the post she formerly held. Unfortunately, her applications were not successful.
- Mr Seshupo Andrew Mokgatla’s was employed as Section Manager for Protection Services from 01 January 2006 until 31 December 2010 and his contract was then extended from 01 January 2011 until 31 December 2015. He was disciplined on various charges and dismissed. His attempt to set aside the dismissal and to be reinstated was dismissed by the CCMA.
- Dr Sean Muller was employed on a fixed term contract as an Economic Analyst in Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) from July 2014 to 30 June 2019. He resigned shortly after failing to secure a promotional post for which he applied and underwent a fair, open and competitive recruitment process. He subsequently complained at CCMA on claims of unfair labour practice, which the CCMA dismissed.
- Ms Zelda Holtzman was employed as the Head of Security at Parliament. She faced various charges of misconduct and was dismissed after a due process. Ms Holtzman claimed she was unfairly dismissed and took the dispute to the CCMA for reinstatement. Parliament and Ms Holtzman managed to reach a settlement and the matter was closed.
- Ms Carmine Rustin was permanently employed as a Chief Researcher from 1 October 2000 and resigned from Parliament after 16 years of service with effect from 31 December 2015. According to her exit interview, she intended to pursue her studies.
- Ms Moira Levy was employed as a Content and Information Manager in the Parliamentary Communication Division. She was employed on a fixed term contract from 1 January 2012 to 30 June 2017 and resigned on 30 June 2017 to pursue her own journalism project.
- Dr Tania Ajam was employed as a Chief Researcher in the Knowledge and Information Services Division. She was employed on a fixed term contract of five years from 1 October 2017 and resigned on 31 May 2018. She stressed in her resignation letter that the position was mostly managerial and she felt it did not give her opportunity to pursue her passion, which is research.
Parliament, like any other institution, is not perfect, hence it continues to put in measures to ensure ongoing improvement of its work environment. Exit interviews are intended to afford resignees an opportunity to frankly express their reasons for leaving and to enable the institution to improve its Human Resources practices where necessary. None of these ex staff members alluded to any complaint in their exit interviews or resignation letters, but have instead commented positively of the institution.
Despite its challenges, we are satisfied that Parliament continues to be an employer of choice for many, as demonstrated by a range of indicators such as its attractiveness to more highly skilled and competent knowledge workers, low staff turnover rates and the rating as a preferred employer by the majority of staff in an independently conducted survey.
Parliament staff retention rates are among the best in both the public and private sectors in South Africa, registering as low as 1.49% staff turnover rate in the current financial year. The average positive industry turnover rate in South Africa is between 5 and 10%. Parliament has registered a 44% decline in staff turnover rate, from 2.66% in 2017/18 to 1.49% in the 2018/19 financial year. The claim by the group and their sympathetic organizations that there has been exodus of staff at Parliament is thus not supported by evidence. The fact that some of these ex-employees have actively either tried to rejoin parliament or fought for their reinstatement through the CCMA is a further evidence of Parliament as a preferred employer, its challenges notwithstanding.
The onus is on these ex-employees to produce evidence of toxicity or bullying they claim to have suffered or desist from the opportunistic campaign.
Parliament calls on all concerned to allow the PSC space to carry out its investigation.
Issued by Parliament of Republic of South Africa
Enquiries: Moloto Mothapo
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