By Staff Writer
Women working at the Southern African Development Community (SADC) plant genetics unit in Zambia have sided with a colleague challenging her dimissal and have described an abusive working environment thanks to their boss’ “reign of terror”. While this prompted a visit to the Zambian unit by SADC top brass but, more than a year later, the organisaton has only managed to express “regret” with some advice to staff to “read and understand SADC policies”.
At the heart of the controversy is Dr Justify Gotami Shava, a Zimbabwean national and the head of the SADC Plant Genetic Resources Centre (SPGRC). SADC sent seven officials from its headquarters in Gabarone, Botswana in October 2022 to investigate. The purpose of the visit was to directly address staff concerns. While the dismissal case is now subject to an ongoing legal process, the organisation has not reprimanded Dr Shava or condemned the behaviour attributed to him during interviews with the other women at SPGRC.
SADC, a regional body comprising 16 member states established in 1980 to champion the political liberation of Southern Africa, is currently immersed in a prolonged legal dispute about the allegations against Dr Shava which first came to light after an employee challenged her dismissal as unfair.
Minutes from the staff meeting, obtained by the MakanDay Centre for Investigative Journalism, reveal that the 14 staff members in attendance raised a lengthy list of grievances to the delegation led by SADC Director of Human Resources and Administration, Mrs Bodo Tantel Radaody Ralarosy, accompanied by six other officers.
“Staff complained about their inability to express issues freely due to threats, intimidation, and fear of victimisation from the head of the SPGRC through the performance appraisals,” the minutes read. “Staff cited multiple examples of the use of unsuitable language by the SPGRC head when communicating with staff.”
This is not what former leaders of southern Africa had envisioned when they agreed to form a regional body that would contribute to the liberation of southern Africa.
SADC’s Response
The SADC secretariat conveyed its limitation in addressing any inquiries about the matter, citing an ongoing case at the SADC Administrative Tribunal (SADCAT).
In response to MakanDay’s request for comment, Barbara Lopi, Head of Communication and Public Relations, stated that SADCAT holds jurisdiction to adjudicate and resolve labour disputes involving the SADC Secretariat or any of its institutions, whether in the capacity of an employer or employee.
SADC’s New Focus
Since 1992, the SADC’s focus has been on economic integration, after much of the region was politically liberated.
Its current 16 member states are Angola, Botswana, Comoros, DR Congo, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
The SPGRC is an institution of the regional body falling under the Food, Agriculture, and Natural Resources (FANR) Directorate.
According to its mandate posted on the SADC website, it works with national plant genetic resources centres (NPGRCs) in each of the SADC Member States to coordinate collection, conservation, and utilisation of plant genetic diversity and variability of Southern Africa.
Tucked in the Waterfalls area along Great East Road on the outskirts of the Zambian capital, Lusaka, the SPGRC is one of those institutions you can drive past without much attention, aside from its green and white signpost and orange pan brick boundary wall.
But it seems the internal workings of the SPGRC are not as quiet as its serene neighbourhood.
Ongoing Internal Squabbles
According to the minutes from the meeting with the delegation from Botswana, Dr Shava repeatedly gave staff “an option of leaving the organization if any complaints of workload were raised”.
Performance appraisals were supposed to be an objective process to discuss staff performance, but Dr Shava had allegedly weaponised and used them to punish staff, according to the minutes.
The workers told the delegation that they were forced to work even when sick or stressed due to workload for fear of being disciplined or poorly graded in performance appraisals.
Dr Shava is also accused of invading workers’ privacy by sending security staff to check what property they had in their homes, which are within the SPGRC vicinity.
“Staff explained how the SPGRC environment is toxic and how staff are unhappy and usually break down to tears,” the minutes read.
However, despite the strong allegations staff made against Dr Shava, the HR delegation from the Secretariat provided rather weak responses.
At most, they “expressed regret,” “noted that the environment needed to be conducive for proper communication to take place,” and advised staff to “read and understand SADC policies”.
Nowhere in the delegation’s actions did they reprimand Dr Shava or condemn the behaviour attributed to him.
Additionally, Dr Shava has not responded to MakanDay’s request for comment over these allegations. Instead, he shared the query with SADC Secretariat who responded by email: “Reference is made to the attached letter dated 9th January 2024 which was submitted to the SADC Plant Genetic Resource Centre (SPGRC) in Lusaka, Zambia. Similar questions contained in this letter were sent to the SADC Secretariat in December last year and we provided a response as per the email below from the Head of Communication and Public Relations, Ms. Barbara Lopi. Kindly note that the SPGRC falls under the SADC Secretariat, therefore, all media enquiries should be directed to the Communication and Public Relations Unit at the SADC Secretariat.”
One staff member who fell victim to Dr Shava’s reported reign of terror is Sthembiso Pearl Andile Mbhele, a South African national who served as a Senior Programme Officer at SPGRC since 1st July 2019.
She was dismissed from employment by the SADC Executive Secretary on 10 November 2022, based on three charges levelled against her by Dr Shava – forging a medical certificate, false reporting, and poor performance.
Mbhele denied all three charges and submitted documentary and physical evidence, including WhatsApp messages exchanged with her doctor, to support her defence.
Concerning the charge of falsifying a medical certificate, she argued in her affidavit filed before the SADC Administrative Tribunal (SADCAT) in Gaborone that it was an error on the part of the hospital, which mixed up dates on her medical certificate.
Mbhele presented information from the health insurance company, showing that she was attended to at Pearl of Health Clinic in Lusaka on 12thDecember 2021, the same day she traveled to South Africa.
Mbhele contends that the charge of poor performance surprised her because the organisation had a performance appraisal system that addressed staff performance. Therefore, the issue should not have arisen in a disciplinary hearing when it was not raised in a performance appraisal.
Among other demands, Mbhele is seeking reinstatement to her former position, the setting aside of the disciplinary committee’s guilty verdict, and compensation for bullying, harassment, and intimidation resulting in depression.
However, in a counter-affidavit, SADC Director of Human Resources and Administration, Mrs Ralarosy, the same official who headed the delegation to Lusaka in October 2022 and listened to staff complaints, defends Mbhele’s dismissal. The case is ongoing before a panel of three judges at the SADCAT and is set to resume in 2024.
The Mail Online, a Botswana media house following the proceedings of the Tribunal in Gaborone, reported on 8 November 2023 that “all the women who testified before the Tribunal broke down into tears and the Judges had to adjourn the hearing several times to allow them to cool down.”
One of the witnesses stated, “I am not the only one who is a victim. The women are the most hit. The abuse and threats are the order of the day. The trail of threats, humiliation, intimidation executed under the auspices of the SADC secretariat is heart-breaking,” it reported.
“Evidence before the Tribunal suggests that this abuse contributed to the demise of Dr Shava’s Administrative Assistant, the late Mary Phiri, a Zambian national,” it adds.
The SADCAT was established on 18 August 2015 to hear labour matters between the SADC Secretariat or any of its institutions and employees.
Discover more from MAKANDAY
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
