Parliament suicide: top officials rebuked

● Two high-ranking parliamentary officials have been sharply rebuked over the way they handled the grievances of a subordinate who later committed suicide in his office in parliament.

The criticism of Dumisani Job Sithole, a former ANC MP and the parliamentary head of international relations, and advocate Modibedi Phindela, secretary to the National Council of Provinces (NCOP), is contained in a provisional report by the Public Service Commission (PSC) on the death of parliamentary official Lennox Garane last year.

The PSC launched the investigation at the request of National Assembly speaker Baleka Mbete and NCOP chair Thandi Modise.

In his suicide note, Garane said he was taking his own life in protest against a decision by his bosses not to renew his contract.

He also complained that they had failed to address grievances over what he saw as his unlawful removal from his prior position.

In the report submitted to parliament this week, the PSC found that Sithole acted “arbitrarily, unlawfully and irregularly” when he transferred Garane against his wishes from the position of senior manager for multilateral relations to the policy analysis unit.

The arbitrary transfer was the genesis of Garane’s grievances at work, which led to the non-renewal of his contract in September and culminated in his death.

The PSC found that “no concrete assistance was provided to Mr Garane by his supervisor, Mr Sithole, or Adv Phindela” in the days before his death on September 14, despite his threats having been brought to their attention three days earlier.

Sithole reported to Phindela at the time. Both referred the matter to Buyile Bashe, parliament’s manager of organisational wellness, the report says.

“Although they felt incapable of assisting Mr Garane, as managers and leaders they failed to at least personally reach out to Mr Garane and look for solutions to deal with his threats or to alert his family.

“The laxity with which the two senior employees in the parliamentary administration handled the suicide threats made by Mr Garane borders on a lack of empathy and negligence,” reads the report.

It also says parliament’s employee relations division “appeared to play an apathetic role” in tackling Garane’s grievances.

Sithole declined to comment, referring queries to parliament’s spokesperson Moloto Mothapo, who said he could not comment until the investigation was concluded.

Phindela did not respond to requests for comment.

The laxity with which [they] handled the suicide threats borders on negligence

It is understood that they are planning to take the matter on judicial review, pending the PSC’s final report.

PSC spokesperson Humphrey Ramafoko said parliament had been given 14 days to comment on the provisional report and furnish further documents.

The final report will be issued by the end of March.

The PSC also says in its report Garane had disadvantaged himself when he ignored advice from Phindela and others to approach the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation & Arbitration or the labour court.