The DA calls for an independent investigation into the removal of two female Councillors of the South African Council for the Architectural Profession (SACAP) by its 5th Term Council. This follows a farcical investigation that appears to have completely ignored any facts related to the matter.
In December 2020, two female Councillors of the SACAP – appointed by Public Works Minister Patricia de Lille – were relieved of their positions at a Council Meeting in absentia. The two Councillors had previously exposed the alleged bullying and harassment being experienced by them which was said to be perpetrated by the “President, Registrar and a certain faction within the Council”. In addition to this, the affected female Councillors were allegedly being “targeted, sabotaged, undermined, bullied and harassed incessantly”.
Reports of this highly irregular decision of the Council, abuse of power, and the alleged harassment and bullying by the SACAP President Charles Nduku and Registrar Toto Fiduli were brought to both Minister de Lille and Deputy Minister Noxolo Kiviet’s attention on 4 December 2020. However, it was only after I raised this issue in written questions to the Minister in March 2021 that she directed that an investigation into the allegations be carried out.
Neither the DA, nor the Councillors who have been fired on the basis of the report, or the parliamentary portfolio committee on public works and infrastructure, have seen the investigative report which has now exonerated the SACAP, its President and Registrar of all wrongdoing against the two female Councillors. The investigation found the allegations to be “baseless and without merit”, and alleges that they were made “in bad faith” and “infer an objective to tarnish the image of the 5th Term Council, President and Registrar”. The report states that the veracity of the allegations cannot be confirmed or substantiated and after reviewing of minutes, policies and recordings evidence to substantiate the allegations cannot be found. The Minister has accepted the report and, in the main, “concluded that the Councillors’ allegations should not be pursued due to a lack of evidence to substantiate the allegations”.
The DA is however in possession of affidavits from both female Councillors which paints a completely different picture. One of the affidavits notes that the Registrar Fiduli apologised for his behaviour, and asked for forgiveness for his stalking of the Councillor. There are also letters from SACAP President Nduku and minutes of discussions in various Council meetings chaired by him which reveal that the two Councillors were said to display “disruptive conduct” which is “detrimental to the proper functioning and decorum of the Council”. However, requests by the two Councillors for the details of the said breaches of decorum to be supplied were never granted.
It appears that this ‘investigation’ was highly flawed – we have never been told who handled the said investigation, whether it was by an independent body, or by SACAP itself. And therein lies the rub. We need to see what the brief was to whoever did this investigation. We need to know whether the investigators were suitably qualified to undertake the investigation, and whether all sides of the allegations were tested – long before the results and the report can ‘simply be accepted’.
It is for this reason that the DA calls for an independent investigation into this matter and that the process is subject to full transparency. The two Councillors have lost their livelihoods and their professional reputation is being damaged daily, while maladministration and improper behaviour by two male members of the Council seems to be condoned by both Minister De Lille and Deputy Minister Kiviet.
There is a clear lack of leadership on the part of the Minister and the Deputy Minister to do proper oversight over the entities under their executive leadership. They have not ensured that the Councils and members of the Built Environment Professions are protected.