UFH employee says she was suspended for reporting alleged corruption

A University of Fort Hare employee, after being suspended in 2022, has been sitting at home on full pay for 18 months.

She said she was suspended for attempting to stop alleged corruption that had been reported to her.

“You question them [UFH management], you are out, you are left frustrated and they make sure that you are suffering,” she said.

She is just one of more than 30 university staff members who have been suspended or dismissed in the last two years.

“My sin was to flag what I saw as corruption involving senior staff members.

“Here you don’t question their authority. When you do that, you are out.”

The woman did not want to be identified as she is still fighting the case and fears victimisation.

“I've called this institution home for many years,” she said. 

She said she was not a whistleblower because she had openly shared the alleged corruption with other senior staffers. 

She said a month or two after she spoke out about the alleged corruption, she received a letter signed by the human resources director, Dr Paul Tladi, suspending her.

“They sent a letter with security guards and the next thing I was out.

“Not a single hearing has been held.”

She first spoke to the Dispatch in January.

She confirmed this week that she was still at home.

“I will stand for the truth. God will triumph. Those who are doing this to us, their time is coming.

“Many employees have lost their jobs at UFH because of greedy individuals who are running this institution as their kraals.”

She feels that only a disciplinary hearing can clear her.

“South African labour laws and the University’s Employee Relations employment policy are ignored,” she said. 

She shared with the Dispatch the institution’s 36-page employee relations policy and procedures document.

The document has various forms of disciplinary sanctions, including verbal warning, written warning, final written warning, temporary suspension of employment with or without pay and dismissal or summary dismissal. 

“Not all these procedures were followed ... instead I was suspended with no verbal warning or written warning.

“My only problem was to name a group of people who don’t have the skills, who are leading this institution to bankruptcy.

“Some were involved in corruption that I flagged. I am out, they are still employed.

“Why doesn't the vice-chancellor [Sakhela Buhlungu] get involved and question the diabolical actions by some of his close allies?

“Buhlungu does not even respond to appeals, as the policy advises.” 

The Dispatch has seen the woman’s and other employees’ suspension letters.

Another employee, also suspended in 2022, said: “Buhlungu says he’s cleaning the institution of corruption, now we are suspended, people are starting to say we are corrupt.

“I am not corrupt. I was fighting fraud yet I am out without being given a chance to prove my innocence.

“I left that institution like I was a thief.” 

One dismissed employee said: “Buhlungu would not know his enemies.

“He’s telling the world his enemies are businesspeople ... what if they are within this institution?

“I am out of work. Fired without any proof of wrongdoing because of him.”

Another suspended employee said: “I am not corrupt, but sitting at home getting paid for doing nothing pains me.

“The council is mum. There are other people who have done wrong yet they are still at work because of their proximity to Prof Buhlungu.”

These employees feel they were “just removed from the system” so that those in power could “loot what is left of the institution”.

While searching for answers during a four-month long Dispatch investigation, in February UFH spokesperson JP Roodt confirmed the suspensions and dismissals, saying some members had resigned while being investigated.

: “The number of staff that was suspended for fraud and corruption since 2020 is 33,” he said at the time.

“It is important to note that most of the staff opted to resign after being investigated, either when being served with a charge or during the presentation of evidence at a disciplinary hearing.”

Asked last week about the latest developments on staff suspensions, Roodt failed to respond.

Some of those dismissed employees have taken the matter to the CCMA.

National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union representative Ernest Elefu, who represents one of the employees, said some cases were with the CCMA.

“The matter started as early as 2022,” he said.

Elefu alleged that  employees had become victims for exposing corruption.

“It always becomes a problem when an employee becomes a whistleblower.

“Our courts have not developed to a degree where they understand the tactics of employees who are whistleblowers or the abuse of authority.” 

DispatchLIVE