Parliament must conduct a transparent investigation into suicide on precinct

The Democratic Alliance calls on Parliament to make public the terms of reference of its investigation into the circumstances surrounding the tragic death of parliamentary staffer, Lennox Garane, as well as the names of the individuals tasked with conducting the investigation.

A fully transparent process is crucial to giving the grieving family the closure they deserve.

The DA is in possession of a document Garane sent to the co-chairpersons of the Joint Standing Committee of Financial Management of Parliament, Vincent Smith and Motalane Monakedi, on 26 June 2018. This desperate cry for help was never shared with members of the Committee.

The document details how Garane raised his concerns about his working conditions, but to no avail.

Garane followed procedure by initially submitting a grievance to the acting Deputy Secretary to Parliament, Adv Modibedi Phindela;

Unhappy with Phindela’s handling of the matter, he submitted a grievance to the Acting Secretary to Parliament, Penelope Tyawa, on 24 October 2017, this time including Phindela in the grievance and detailing how an HR executive failed to assist in the matter;

Having received no acknowledgment from Tyawa, Garane wrote once more to the Acting Secretary only to be told that she had referred the matter to the same HR executive for investigation;

On 11 May 2018, in a letter signed by Tyawa, Garane’s grievance was dismissed without having given him a hearing;

Garane then wrote to the Presiding Officers of Parliament, Baleka Mbete and Thandi Modise, asking that they investigate his original grievance and the way it had been handled by parliamentary officials; the Speaker’s Office replied to Garane by simply relaying a statement from Tyawa;

Having exhausted all other avenues, Garane finally wrote to the co-chairpersons of the Joint Standing Committee of Financial Management of Parliament, but once again found no support

We are left with more questions than answers, and a truly independent and transparent investigation is required. The only way to honour Garane’s memory is to ensure that the institutional failures at Parliament are acknowledged and addressed decisively.

Statement issued by Mike Waters MP, Deputy Chief Whip of the Democratic Alliance, 26 September 2018