‘Arrogant’ parly bosses challenged over suicide saga
● The Public Service Commission (PSC) wants three high-ranking parliamentary executives to prove they are fit to hold their positions following the suicide of a subordinate.
In a report on the factors that led parliamentary official Lennox Garane to kill himself last year over his working conditions, the PSC recommended that the three executives be assessed for their “fitness and proficiency” to hold their positions.
They are the acting secretary to parliament, Baby Tyawa; the secretary of the National Council of Provinces (NCOP), Modibedi Phindela; and the head of international relations, Dumisani Job Sithole. They receive remuneration packages ranging from R1.9m to R2.4m.
The report, which was submitted to parliament in April but has been under wraps until now, found that Garane’s suicide was preceded by missteps in the handling of personnel practices by the three executives.
The commission also slated Tyawa and Phindela for having blamed the suicide on Garane’s family when they made submissions in response to a preliminary report it issued earlier this year.
“The attempt by Adv Phindela and Ms Tyawa in their submission to shift their responsibility to blaming the family is repulsive,” says the PSC report.
“The callous, arrogant and insensitive response to the PSC’s provisional report in respect of Mr Garane’s family’s apparent inaction is in poor taste and uncalled for.
“The fact that Ms Tyawa submitted the response under her signature displays a lack of leadership and consideration [for] the implications of the response on the parliamentary administration.”
The PSC recommended that the speaker of the National Assembly, Thandi Modise, and the chair of the NCOP, Amos Masondo, should assess the three’s fitness to occupy their positions.
“The level of fitness and proficiency of Ms Tyawa, Adv Phindela and Mr Sithole to hold leadership and management [posts] should be assessed. This includes an assessment of their people management skills,” the report says.
Modise and Masondo are due to present the report to a closed meeting of the joint standing committee on the financial management of parliament this week.
Sources have indicated that the two presiding officers have appointed an independent lawyer to assist them in dealing with the matter.
Parliament’s spokesperson, Moloto Mothapo, speaking on behalf of Modise, Masondo and parliament’s management, said he was not prepared to comment on a leaked report.
“We cannot comment on an unofficially distributed document whose content and authenticity we are not in a position to confirm,” he said.
“Parliament has been internally dealing with matters regarding the tragedy since last year, taking into consideration the sensitivities involved and the respect we ought to accord to the family throughout, and therefore we will communicate publicly when all processes have been exhausted.”
Tyawa referred queries to Mothapo. Phindela and Sithole did not respond.
But insiders with intimate knowledge of the matter said the three were considering taking the report on judicial review. The sources said that among other things, the three believed the PSC did not have jurisdiction over them.
In his suicide note in September last year, Garane said he was taking his own life in protest at a decision by his bosses not to renew his contract. He also complained that they had failed to address his grievance about being improperly moved out of a previous position.
Garane reported to Sithole, who in turn took his orders from Phindela, whose boss is Tyawa. He accused the trio of “corporate bullying”.
The PSC found that the three executives acted with “a lack of empathy and negligence” by failing to alert Garane’s family of this threats to commit suicide. It also found they had delegated too much responsibility to their juniors by referring Garane to an “illequipped” wellness manager instead of attending to Garane’s issues themselves.