Brave stance on corruption praiseworthy
FRIENDS and family of the late Correctional Services national commissioner Vernie Petersen have started a campaign to honour his memory and to give due recognition to his brave anti-corruption stance in the face of death threats to himself and his family.
The campaign, #Justice4Vernie, was started after the revelations at the Zondo Commission of Inquiry into state capture showed how Vernie was threatened by the Bosasa company to approve dodgy tenders.
Vernie tried in vain to ensure that the correct procedures were followed in re-advertising the food contract rather than being forced to extend the existing Bosasa contract.
Neither his colleagues in senior management nor then minister of correctional services Ngconde Balfour supported him.
After several clashes with Balfour and the senior management, Vernie was moved to the Department of Sport and Recreation.
In a letter of support to the state capture commission, #Justice4Vernie said the testimonies by former correctional services portfolio committee chair Dennis Bloem and Bosasa chief operations officer Angelo Agrizzi “reminded us of an awful period that Vernie and his family had to endure simply because he did the right thing”.
“He served our country and government with the utmost dignity and ethical behaviour, and should not have been vilified, victimised and subjected to death threats in the way that he had been”.
Vernie matriculated from Modderdam High School in 1977. He was an activist in Cape Town in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s. He started his activism through youth and church associations that fought to end apartheid.
Vernie obtained a diploma in social work from UWC. Later he obtained an honours and master’s in social science from UCT.
After the 1994 democratic elections, Vernie joined the public service, where he held several senior positions.
After being in hospital for a week, undergoing a routine procedure, he fell ill and died in Pretoria on Sunday.
He is survived by his widow June, sons Ruari and Dylan, and three grandchildren.
The organisers of the #Justice4Vernie campaign will hold a rally at St George’s Cathedral this Saturday, where speakers will reflect on Petersen’s life and legacy. The rally will start at noon.
Speakers will include former finance minister Trevor Manuel; former Cape Town mayor and ambassador Theresa Solomon; and Sithembiso Garane, son of the late Lennox Garane, who was a parliamentary officer at the time of his death.
There will also be tributes from Petersen’s June and son Ruari, and messages of support from, among others, former deputy chief justice Dikgang Moseneke and Anglican Archbishop Thabo Makgoba.
For more information, please contact Neil Cole (082 882 4111 or colen650821@gmail.com) or the Very Reverend Michael Weeder (083 384 4854 or kosibooi@gmail.com)