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An alumni organisation and a trade union have pledged legal support for Professor Thidziambi Phendla’s effort to reverse her dismissal as dean of education at the University of Venda.
Last month, Phendla failed to overturn her axing from the university after the Labour Court ratified the university’s disciplinary committee decision, taken six years ago, to fire her for allegedly accepting a R1 000 bribe to award a cleaning tender to a company called Clean Shop in 2008.
Phendla challenged her dismissal on the grounds that the university’s vice-chancellor and principal, Professor Peter Mbati, allegedly investigated and charged her after she refused to have sex with him.
Phendla argued that her dismissal was unfair. She accused Mbati of having abused his power by sexually harassing her for two years and allegedly raping her during what she called a “coerced relationship”.
However, Labour Court Judge Graham Moshoana ruled against Phendla, saying her dismissal was “not automatically unfair” and was “substantively and procedurally fair”.
Moshoana said he was not convinced that Phendla was subjected to sexual harassment.
“Her version is replete with material inconsistencies and cannot be accepted by this court as being true. The narration of the events occurred after the disciplinary hearing.
“It is difficult to say the applicant is making all this up. However, I have a strong suspicion that [Phendla] made this up in order to divert attention from the misconduct that she was charged with and dismissed for,” the judge concluded.
The Higher Education Transformation Network and the National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu) this week weighed in and pledged to assist Phendla’s appeal.
“We’re shocked and disappointed by the court’s decision and we will back her all the way to the Constitutional Court”, said the transformation network’s executive director Mothepane Seolonyane.
He said they decided to join the appeal as an interested party because they believed that there was sexual harassment.
“The judge did not consider evidence at hand that there was an abuse of power at play.”
Seolonyane said Phendla did not serve on any tender committee and Nehawu had not implicated her when it called for a probe into the cleaning tender.
Nehawu national spokesperson Khaya Xaba said the union would provide Phendla with legal advice.
Serobi Maja, university council chairperson, said in a statement that Nehawu raised allegations of fraud and corruption against university officials relating to an R18 million tender bribe to appoint Clean Shop.
After Deloitte & Touche conducted a forensic investigation into the matter, it recommended that the identified staff members, including Phendla, face a disciplinary inquiry.
The inquiry found Phendla guilty of fraud and corruption and she was dismissed.
“The investigation revealed that Phendla was approached by the Clean Shop as a potential service provider and was paid money to influence the institution’s council, of which she was a member, to award the services to Clean Shop,” Maja said.
Nehawu said while it demanded an investigation into the tender, it had not seen any evidence linking Phendla to any irregularities.
“Nehawu’s name must not be used by Mbati to cover up his useful (sic) dismissal of Phendla.”
It said it would support Phendla’s quest for justice through an appeal to the Labour Appeal Court and even to the country’s highest court, if necessary, Xaba said.
Phendla maintained that Mbati coerced her into a relationship.
“It is sad because the judge made a conclusion that there was a consensual relationship while Mbati denied this throughout the Labour Court case.
“He [Mbati] is the most powerful employee at the university; how can we negotiate powers? The Labour Relations Act’s definition is clear that such is considered as sexual harassment,” Phendla said.
Mbati said that Phendla had peddled falsehoods over the past six years, but “in the end, truth and justice prevails”.
“I have, for the past eight years, vigorously fought the vice of corruption at the university. This has come a very personal cost to me, including threats to my personal safely ... death threats. I therefore plead that you assist those of us who are brave enough to confront this evil, to wage this war without fear of intimidation from the perpetrators of this evil crime,” Mbati said.
He said that he was surprised by national Nehawu’s statement because its branch at the university had disassociated itself from supporting Phendla. City Press has seen the branch’s statement.
The Higher Education Transformation Network, said Mbati, was riddled with corrupt members.
“And, is this really a structure that we can believe when they peddle unsubstantiated allegations?” he said.
