Hospital hate-speech row taken to court

● White staff claim racial discrimination and abuse

A group of 30 white health and administration staff at the Fort England psychiatric hospital in Makhanda (Grahamstown) claim they are the victims of racial discrimination, abuse and hate speech.

They allege that the perpetrators are black unionist colleagues who want to rid the institution of white managers.

The group, speaking through the Health & Other Services Personnel Trade Union of SA (Hospersa), said it had written twice to Eastern Cape health department superintendent-general Dr Thobile Mbengashe seeking protection.

National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu) Eastern Cape secretary Miki Jaceni refuted the claims against the union and its members.

“I would like to put it on record that Nehawu is a nondiscriminatory and non-racist union fighting for the rights of all workers,” Jaceni said.

In one of the letters, dated March 19, Hospersa chair Anneline Fry told Mbengashe about “intolerable working conditions, ongoing tireless victimisation and making up of false statements against white managers”.

The hospital’s operations manager, Stafford Allan Fry, has opened a case with the Equality Court against Nehawu branch chair Thando Mtshalala – who resigned from his job at the hospital on Friday – for using hate speech.

Anneline Fry told Mbengashe that Allan Fry was left with no choice but to approach the court due to lack of action from the department of health’s provincial head office.

In February, Fry, in his Equality Court claim, demanded R200,000 for defamation.

Mtshalala declined to comment on Monday, saying the matter was in court.

He also declined to identify his lawyer.

Anneline Fry said in an email that Mtshalala’s resignation meant he was evading internal disciplinary action.

In her letters to Mbengashe, she alleged that a recent recruitment drive at the hospital had been rigged.

She said three white applicants’ supporting documents, had “conveniently” gone missing, which disqualified their applications.

One of the employees, who cannot be named as she is not authorised to speak to the media, said doctors, nurses and support staff were among the group of 30.

Eastern Cape health spokesperson Lwandile Sicwetsha confirmed that Mtshalala had resigned in the middle of a probe into his conduct.

In his submission filed at the Grahamstown Magistrate’s Court in February, Allan Fry accused Mtshalala of saying to a packed hall of hospital staff during a memorial service for a colleague in November: “We will rid this institution of all white people, just like Robert Mugabe did in Zimbabwe.”

Fry said in his court application: “My workplace has become intolerable ... I am extremely anxious as I feel that Mtshalala is out to get white people.”

The hate-speech case will go for a pre-trial conference in the Grahamstown Magistrate’s Court on September 27, according to a representative of the group.

The staffers also claim that 17 out of 19 jobs advertised at the hospital in May went to family members of Mtshalala.

Sicwetsha said of the hiring process: “An investigation was conducted and some irregularities were found to have occurred.

“The irregularities have been corrected and short-listing was restarted.”