HEALTH COUNCIL HAULED TO COURT
A BRUISING tussle is brewing at the Allied Health Professions Council of South Africa (AHPCSA) as the Deputy Registrar made damning claims that a proposed new structure continued to be used as a defence to axe black women who should be equipped to replace the 67-year-old Registrar who has apparently reached retirement age.
Aggrieved Deputy Registrar, Nhlanhla Mthembu has now approached the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria and filed an application challenging herboss’s continued employment.
Mthembu,33, has asked the court to declare the extension of registrar Dr Louis Mullinder’s contract beyond his 65th birthday unlawful, and review, correct or set aside the decision to extend it beyond his birthday.
She also wants the Health Department - which is the third respondent after AHPCSA - to be authorised to do anything lawful to prevent this, including the recovery of any benefit received by the registrar as the council’s employee beyond his 65th birthday.
Mthembu was appointed to the deputy registrar position in August 2020 following an interview.
She claims it was mentioned Mullinder was expected to retire in December of that year.
His retirement age was apparently 63 as per the organisation’s retirement policy.
“I was told that my position was created as part of the succession plan to be trained by the Registrar to take over the administration of the registrar in line with the transformation plan. I later confirmed this transformation plan in a letter. The Registrar since my appointment had no intention to retire and has throughout 2021 never put me in a position for a transition. He did not give me access to information relating to the organisation. My relationship with him deteriorated and I have been subjected to bullying. To date he is still sidelining me,” said Mthembu.
In March this year she received a letter and later a consultation meeting that her position was redundant and that she might be retrenched as part of a proposal for a new structure.
“The Minister of Health in 2009 instructed the AHPCSA to appoint an Assistant Registrar to enable transformation. A young educated black woman was appointed and retrenched and the position taken away. Now I’m facing retrenchment for similar reasons. It seems when the black women are to take over they are then retrenched so that the Registrar, a white man in his retirement age, continues to stay in power. It should be noted that out of all 6 statutory councils, the AHPCSA is the only statutory council,” she added.
Mthembu now also faces suspension after writing to Health Minister Dr Joe Phaahla requesting an investigation regarding transformation and other issues, sharing Mullinder’s appointment details.
Approached for comment, a Van Gaalen Attorneys legal representative responding on behalf of the AHPCSA said: “We confirm that the High Court application of Ms Mthembu has not formally been served on our client and/or Dr Mullinder. Our client has been made aware about the High Court application of Ms Mthembu and will attend to the necessary within the necessary time lines. The matter is sub judice.”
A former assistant registrar who was employed for about four years also shared her experience saying a sudden new structure was proposed, resulting in her position and that of another colleague being redundant. She said they were pressured to accept voluntary retrenchment packages. “I informed the Registrar I was not in a position to make a decision on the spot, as he required. The relations in the office were no longer conducive, there were instances of subtle and passive aggression from him and the administrative staff were acting very cagey when I was around their work space, as if they were told to keep an eye on me.” She said during a meeting another excuse that was used was that the registrar’s workload did not justify her position but she was still not yielding to the package offer, which created a toxic environment for her. “I subsequently agreed because I could see that the Registrar had calculated the situation and I had no energy or the resources to take him on.” The Health Department did not respond to questions by deadline.