Sowetan reports that senior officials at the Johannesburg Metro Police Department (JMPD) have been accused of rigging an interview process for the post of facilities manager in order to appoint their preferred candidate. This was the finding of an arbitrator at a bargaining council hearing which found that Linda Mphuti was deprived of the appointment to a job after acting in the role for four years.
Mphuti had filed a dispute after another candidate was appointed to the role. He said the interview process had been flawed and skewed in his competitor’s favour.
Arbitrator in the matter Itumeleng Williams recommended that the appointment of another official into the post be set aside because she was allegedly given interview questionnaire prior to her being interviewed.
“The third party [successful candidate] was party to the circumvention of a fair and objective recruitment process,” Williams said.
“There is overwhelming evidence that she had either direct or indirect access to the executive director or the human resources manager, or both, before the interview process.”
Williams said the appointment of the successful candidate was unfair and that the failure to appoint Mphuti as facilities manager constituted an unfair labour practice.
“On the day of the interview, I walked into the waiting area at the venue and found the other applicant going through a set of questions. I knew that something wasn’t right at that moment but didn’t think much of it,” Mphuti told Sowetan. The hearing also found that this was done in a bid to manipulate the recruitment process for the preferred applicant. But a frustrated Mphuti said the appointment was yet to be reversed nearly a year after the finding of the arbitrator. City of Johannesburg spokesperson Nthatisi Modingoane said the city was not obliged to abide by the arbitrator’s award. He said the city has approached the labour court to review and set aside the award.
“This matter is sub judice and before the labour court and no action can be expected until such time that the court decides on the application for review,” Modingoane said.
However, in March JMPD chief David Tembe instructed the acting executive director to intervene in the matter. “The evidence showed Mr Linda Mphuti acted with some urgency in referring the dispute to arbitration. “The delay in having the matter heard seems to be systematic in nature. The human resources department should implement the arbitration award as per the ruling.”
This matter is sub judice and before the labour court
The original of this report by Tankiso Makhetha appeared on page 8 of Sowetan of 4 February 2019
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page