Disciplinary hearings 'worrying'
2008-11-13 09:21
Johannesburg - The SA National Editors Forum (Sanef) has warned against what it sees as a trend of disciplinary proceedings being instituted against
staff who criticise conditions where they work.
It said on Wednesday it had learnt that Professors Nithaya Chetty
and John van den Berg faced such proceedings for talking to the media
about University of KwaZulu-Natal vice-chancellor Professor Malegapuru
Makgoba.
They reportedly alleged that he had blocked consideration of a
Faculty of Science and Agriculture document on the state of academic
freedom at the university.
The professors have been charged with failing to exercise due care
in communicating with the media, and for having released confidential
senate information.
They were also being accused of dishonesty and/or gross negligence.
Media freedom concerns
Sanef said in a statement it was worried about the effects of such
proceedings would have on media freedom.
Another concern was the impact of this on access to and the
dissemination of information about conduct in public institutions.
Comment from the University of KwaZulu-Natal could not be
immediately obtained.
Sanef said there had been other cases where employees had been
punished for speaking to the media about matters related to their
employment conditions.
"One result is that employees stop voicing their complaints -
leading to an unacceptable drying up of sources of information and thus
public interest issues being kept secret."
- SAPA