Whistleblower off to court

2009-11-26 18:07

Johannesburg - A Limpopo municipal employee will go the Labour Court in Johannesburg on Friday after he was embroiled in revelations that a fellow employee allegedly stole municipal airtime to win a competition for a BMW.

The Open Democracy Advice Centre (ODAC) is defending SA Municipal Workers' Union shop steward Patrick Aphane. He wrote to Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan in September asking for an audit of the Sekhukhune municipality's finances after the BMW allegations surfaced.

He also confirmed this request on SABC radio and as a result was charged on October 29 for bringing the municipality into disrepute.

His disciplinary hearing is set for November 30, but ODAC hope to secure an interim order for Aphane lifting his suspension and withdrawing the charges. They believe he had a right to do what he did in terms of the Public Disclosures Act.

The matter began when an employee spent over R200 000 of his employer's money to enter a Vodacom competition to win a BMW.

He won the BMW after entering the competition, allegedly by using a stolen municipal 3G card.

He was charged and the BMW placed in the municipal pound until the municipal committee decides what to do with it, according to municipal spokesperson Oriel Nemukula.
 

- SAPA