Married vet gets a stay of forced move

A married final-year veterinarian student at the Pretoria University has obtained an urgent court order forcing the agriculture department and Veterinary Council to reconsider her placement for compulsory community service.

Final-year student Charmelle Labuschagne (Visagie) turned to the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria for relief after being informed she had been placed in Vanderbijlpark for her community service next year, despite this not being one of her 15 choices.

She maintained in court papers the decision was unfair and did not take into account that she was married.

She said it was also clear people with no special circumstances had been placed in Pretoria.

Her husband was a pupil advocate at the Pretoria Society of Advocates. He was a specialist in corporate, securities and intellectual property law, his client base would be in Pretoria and his practice as an advocate would entail taking up chambers in Pretoria, she said.

Although there was no compulsory community service when she started studying, she said she had no problem with the system and did not challenge its validity.

She, however, emphasised that the Veterinary and Para-Veterinary Professions Act did not prescribe or require community service as a prerequisite for registration as a veterinarian.

The department’s view was that it would be unfair to favour married students. It said allocation was based on a “lucky draw” and nothing could be done about the placement process, which it regarded as fair and successful.

The department argued a court order in favour of Labuschagne would result in prejudice to other students already placed and would affect future procurement and social-security matters.

Acting Judge John Hollandsaid the effect of this argument could only result in the condoning of unfair administrative actions and render the review process powerless.

He said Labuschagne had made out a clear case for the court to intervene and to refer back the matter for proper consideration according to their own guidelines.

The consideration of “special circumstances”should be done in the second step before a random “lucky draw” was done, he said.

Charmelle Labuschagne had been placed in Vanderbijlpark for her community service next year, despite this not being one of her 15 choices