Durban — Correctional Services Department officials in KwaZulu-Natal could face contempt of court charges after allegedly defying an order to appoint a new head of Stanger Correctional Services Centre.
In an arbitration award seen by the Daily News, General Public Service Sector Bargaining Council (GPSSBC) commissioner Vuyiso Ngcengeni found the employee first appointed to the job did not meet the minimum requirements to be short-listed.
He found the complainant, Mark Chetty, should have been employed as head of the centre, after Chetty took the matter to the GPSSBC for mediation and arbitration.
Ngcengeni said the employee awarded the post (not named) was shortlisted simply because the first respondent (the Correctional Services Centre) failed to apply its mind to the second respondent’s (the employee’s) CV, and it was “manifestly evident” the human resources department had accepted it (the CV) at face value.
He said the human resources department had also not questioned the many positions the employee had held, and his “spurious appointments that begged for scrutiny”.
“The first respondent’s failure to appoint the applicant (Chetty) to the post of head of centre, Stanger, is found to be procedurally and substantively unfair. It is therefore only fair to set aside the appointment of the second respondent, as his appointment would be a promotion of disinformation and fraudulent misrepresentation,” read the award.
The GPSSBC commissioner further said Chetty had suffered immense prejudice, which was exacerbated by the first respondent and the second respondent’s actions, when they denied access to the second respondent’s CV, leading to delays that lasted for about two years.
This act on its own, he said, contributed to the prejudice and it was done in a manner that sought to frustrate the applicant – for reasons known only by the first and the second respondents – thus acting against the spirit and purport of the act to deal with such disputes expeditiously.
“I am satisfied that the evidence submitted indicates very high probabilities of deliberate misrepresentation by the second respondent, and had it not been for such misrepresentation, the second respondent would not have been shortlisted ... the first respondent’s failure to promote the applicant was caused by unacceptable and irrelevant consideration, thus making it unfair,” concluded the award.
The Correctional Services centre was also ordered to backdate Chetty’s employment to April 1, 2020, and also pay more than R100 000, which was the money he would have earned as an adjustment to his normal salary after his promotion.
The post was advertised in 2020, and both Chetty and the other employee had applied. After the interview, Chetty challenged the employer’s decision not to hire him and demanded to see the CV of the person employed. However, he was not given the CV until he took the matter to the GPSSBC for mediation and arbitration.
Chetty’s attorney, Thanasha Moodley, told the Daily News on Sunday that his client was appealing to Justice and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola to intervene.
However, if that failed she would take the matter to court to make the award an order of the court and have the officials who were supposed to implement it charged with contempt of court. The award, issued in January, was supposed to have been effected last month.
Correctional Services Department provincial spokesperson Thulani Mdluli said: “In line with the Labour Relations Act, and related prescripts, which regulate the relationship between an employer and employee and provide for collective bargaining and dispute resolution, the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) is duly handling this matter.”
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Daily News