Bad blood at nonprofit over ‘whistleblowing’
● Two employees of the South African National Blood Service (SANBS) who accused CEO Jonathan Louw and board members of flouting procurement processes have found themselves on the receiving end of a R2m defamation lawsuit.
Louw has since been cleared of the accusation after an investigation by an external company that included a lifestyle audit.
The two employees — Peter Coetzee and Leonard Nyoni — first reported their suspicions on the nonprofit organisation’s tip-off hotline on June 6. Unhappy at what they saw as a slow response, a week later they sent their allegation to hundreds of other SANBS employees.
They admit to having done this, and Louw said the blood service then suspended them.
They were charged with misconduct and breach of their employment contracts at an internal disciplinary hearing on August 2. The case is still under way.
But the suspended employees maintain they were motivated by their determination to stop the blood service being “bled dry”, and say that as whistleblowers their actions should be protected.
Last week, they were served with a summons for defamation in an action brought by Louw, the board members and the SANBS itself.
Coetzee and Nyoni filed notice of their intention to defend the action, which will be heard in the high court in Johannesburg.
Louw said he had had no previous interactions with Nyoni, but had met Coetzee, a shop steward, who had been subject to a disciplinary procedure for taking part in an unprotected strike.
One of Coetzee and Nyoni’s allegations relates to an SANBS plan, unveiled in June, to use drones to deliver blood to hospitals in rural areas.
Louw owns a drone company called Dr Drone, and the two men say the blood service’s board failed to interrogate this possible conflict of interest. Louw said his company had no dealings with the SANBS.
The internal investigation in which Louw was cleared of impropriety found nothing untoward in Dr Drone’s bank statements and could not substantiate the allegations made by Coetzee and Nyoni, according to documents seen by the Sunday Times.
The blood bank is waiting for approval of the drone delivery plan by the Civil Aviation Authority before it can be implemented.
Three years ago an internal SANBS investigation conducted by Werksmans Attorneys found that the then CEO, Trevor Vroom, had misrepresented his work experience and qualifications.
That investigation also detailed the flouting of procurement processes and recommended that in future all SANBS procurement transactions exceeding R1m should be closely scrutinised.
Vroom said the episode was very painful and he had no desire to dig up the past.
“There was never a hearing and I chose to leave the organisation. The issue was with my diplomas, which I received before 1994 when they did count as a degree.”
He would not comment on the procurement allegations.
Taryn York, a lawyer at Howes Inc attorneys who specialises in corporate law, said whistleblowers are protected from legal or disciplinary action as long as their actions are not motivated by personal benefit or malice.
She said the best way to manage whistleblowing is to make sure action is taken within a reasonable time, and to communicate with the complainants.
Meanwhile, Gauteng Hawks spokesperson Capt Ndivhuwo Mulamu said the unit was investigating an unrelated fraud case relating to the alleged flouting of procurement processes at the SANBS. Louw said he was not aware of this.
“When the matter is finalised it shall be referred to the National Prosecuting Authority for a decision,” Mulamu said.