Durban - The suspended chief executive officer (CEO) of Mhlathuze Water Board, Mthokozisi Duze, is not taking his suspension lying down, throwing every missile at the entity, even claiming that he is being “unlawfully worked out of my job.”
Duze believes that with unlimited resources and a pool of specialised legal teams, the Richards Bay-based water board has not done enough to give him the earliest opportunity to argue his case and be returned to work.
“The Labour Court has constantly decried a trend under which employers tend to regard suspension as a legitimate measure of first resort to the most groundless suspicion of misconduct, or worst still, to view suspension as a convenient mechanism to marginalise an employee who has fallen from favour. I have good reason to believe I am being unlawfully worked out of my job,” he said in the papers.
This is contained in his Labour Court papers which IOL had sight of for the first time this week. The papers were filed when Duze wanted to set aside his suspension. However, the court ruled on July 1 that this matter is not urgent.
After that, Duze told IOL that his legal he was going to enrol the case on the normal court roll. The court papers show for the first time what Duze believes is the motive behind his suspension, which was prompted by a whistle-blower who claimed that he was allegedly corrupt.
Equally, in the same papers, Duze accused the water entity of acting in bad faith by not giving him the report of the whistle-blower so that he could get to know what exactly are the allegations against him.
“At this point, I hasten to make clear that I have throughout objected to my suspension and have consistently denied any wrongdoing in my capacity as CE (chief executive) for the respondent.
“I have not as yet been favoured with the so-call whistle-blower report referred to in “FA3”, nor have I been afforded access to the investigation reports which have now been furnished to the respondent pursuant to the appointed high-level (and no doubt extremely expensive) forensic investigators.
“I can do no more than to deny any wrongdoing, and I refer in that regard to the chairperson's notice where she confirmed that the suspension is not a presumption of wrongdoing”.
Duze also speaks of how he was humiliated on 22 February this year when after he was suspended, he had to come back to face investigators who were testing the allegations made by the whistle-blower.
He claimed that he was escorted like a dangerous prisoner and the treatment was not fit for a CEO.
“Thereafter, only now during 22 February 2022, I was called to make myself available to be interviewed by the forensic investigators. The Honourable Court will note that I was asked to utilise gate 01 (a main entrance) and was then escorted to the meeting like on a proverbial perp-walk. Needless to say, it was a shameful experience in my capacity as CE being shepherded to a meeting and, as I believe, in full view of the staff. At that meeting it turned out that it had nothing to do with the allegations which were the subject of my suspension.”
For all this, Duze places the blame on the shoulders of the chairperson of the board of the water entity, Thabi Shange.
“I have now come to realise that there is a concerted effort on behalf of some persons on the board, in particular the chairperson (Shange), to cause me prejudice to my reputation, prospects of advancement, job security and fulfilment. Furthermore, I believe that this suspension is being utilised as a convenient mechanism to marginalise me to ensure that I fall out of favour and can thus be removed as the CE.”