POLITICS

Delay in release of sex-for-jobs investigation report - NEHAWU ECape

Union says report has long been concluded, provincial govt sitting on findings

NEHAWU Eastern Cape Statement on the delay of the release of the sex-for-jobs investigation report

05 January 2017

The National Education Health & Allied Workers Union [NEHAWU] in the Eastern Cape Province is disappointed by the failure of the Eastern Cape government to release the outcomes of the investigation report on the sex for jobs recently undertaken by an independent Judge. This unethical conduct about the abuse of power and authority was reported by members of this union within the two departments of the local government and legislature respectively.

This organisation is reliable informed that the report has long been concluded and is ready for publication by the speaker who has been assigned to lead and manage the process on behalf of government. We have now learnt through media that there were attempts from senior official/s who were purportedly mentioned on the report to interdict its publication to the public. The court has since dismissed such application with contempt it deserves.

It is our firm belief that NEHAWU as the first organisation to blow the whistle also qualifies to be one of the custodians of the investigation report. We shall continue to expose such immoral conduct and bad behaviour wherever it shows its ugly head both in the public and the private sector. This deteriorating state of our moral fabric undermines the status of woman in our society and will promote patriarchy if the campaign against the abuse of women and children is not taken as one of our priority areas as progressive unions within Cosatu.

We want to pledge our solidarity and support to all those women comrades who fell victims of this unfortunate situation. Our unqualified support is based on the basis that the challenges around the circumstances and the social standing of women in a capitalist country where there is high level of unemployment rate will always face similar challenges.

This union is calling upon the Premier of the Eastern Cape Comrade Phumulo Masualle to ensure that the report is released without further delay. All those that are implicated in the report must be brought to book and subjected to the necessary government due processes immediately. Failure to release this report will leave NEHAWU with no option but to utilise the available recourse at our disposal to force for its publication.

Statement issued by Miki Jaceni, NEHAWU Eastern Cape Provincial Secretary, 5 January 2016