A PRISON boss trumped-up charges that led to the dismissal of a female warder who had turned down his sexual advances, have been overturned.
In a damning report into the review of her disciplinary hearing, commissioner at the General Public Service Sector Bargaining Council presiding over the case slated her superiors for stooping low to plot against her for personal interest.
"I have not come across any piece of evidence to suggest or pointing at the existence of an intimate relation in this matter. I have the firm belief that there was a plot to get rid of the applicant," wrote Commissioner Joseph Rakgoadi, whose job is to arbitrate in labour disputes in the public sector, in his report.
The woman, whose identity has been withheld on request, said her nightmare started in 2011 after she turned down Modderbee Correctional Centre boss Obert Mkhaliphi's sexual advances.
She said in December 2011 Mkhaliphi trumped up charges against her, charging her of having sex with an inmate in his cell.
She was also accused of accepting money from the offender.
The woman was dismissed on July 16 2013 following a disciplinary hearing.
She appealed her dismissal at the General Public Service Sector Bargaining Council and it was overturned on October 20 2014.
She said about the harassment: "He would make comments about my body and how good I looked. He proposed love to me and even asked me out several times but I refused because I knew he was married."
The warder said she applied for transfers to other correctional centres but Mkhaliphi turned them down. According to lead investigator into the matter senior correctional officer and manager in the employment relations Antoinette Mashego, the investigation was requested by Mkhaliphi.
But Rakgoadi was scathing in his report: "It is a shame that officials in the department and in particular in the prison can stoop so low and plot with offenders against their colleagues to be dismissed for their personal interest at the expense of the department to lose on the hard earned and needed experiences of the members."
He ordered the woman's reinstatement within 14 days from the date of the award.
The department of correctional services is currently reviewing the award.
The arbitration found that the department relied on an alleged recorded cellphone conversation and statements from offenders.
Rakgoadi found that the audio recordings were inaudible and that they were no help in the matter.
The offender in question was the department's star witness but he denied during the hearing that he had an affair with the warder.
He testified that he was assaulted and threatened by Mkhaliphi because he was not cooperating.
The arbitrator found that the offender had also written an apology to the female warder.
ratsatsip@sowetan.co.za
For more stories like this one, be sure to buy the Sowetan newspaper from Mondays to Fridays
Prison boss made my life a living hell
A PRISON boss trumped-up charges that led to the dismissal of a female warder who had turned down his sexual advances, have been overturned.
In a damning report into the review of her disciplinary hearing, commissioner at the General Public Service Sector Bargaining Council presiding over the case slated her superiors for stooping low to plot against her for personal interest.
"I have not come across any piece of evidence to suggest or pointing at the existence of an intimate relation in this matter. I have the firm belief that there was a plot to get rid of the applicant," wrote Commissioner Joseph Rakgoadi, whose job is to arbitrate in labour disputes in the public sector, in his report.
The woman, whose identity has been withheld on request, said her nightmare started in 2011 after she turned down Modderbee Correctional Centre boss Obert Mkhaliphi's sexual advances.
She said in December 2011 Mkhaliphi trumped up charges against her, charging her of having sex with an inmate in his cell.
She was also accused of accepting money from the offender.
The woman was dismissed on July 16 2013 following a disciplinary hearing.
She appealed her dismissal at the General Public Service Sector Bargaining Council and it was overturned on October 20 2014.
She said about the harassment: "He would make comments about my body and how good I looked. He proposed love to me and even asked me out several times but I refused because I knew he was married."
The warder said she applied for transfers to other correctional centres but Mkhaliphi turned them down. According to lead investigator into the matter senior correctional officer and manager in the employment relations Antoinette Mashego, the investigation was requested by Mkhaliphi.
But Rakgoadi was scathing in his report: "It is a shame that officials in the department and in particular in the prison can stoop so low and plot with offenders against their colleagues to be dismissed for their personal interest at the expense of the department to lose on the hard earned and needed experiences of the members."
He ordered the woman's reinstatement within 14 days from the date of the award.
The department of correctional services is currently reviewing the award.
The arbitration found that the department relied on an alleged recorded cellphone conversation and statements from offenders.
Rakgoadi found that the audio recordings were inaudible and that they were no help in the matter.
The offender in question was the department's star witness but he denied during the hearing that he had an affair with the warder.
He testified that he was assaulted and threatened by Mkhaliphi because he was not cooperating.
The arbitrator found that the offender had also written an apology to the female warder.
ratsatsip@sowetan.co.za
For more stories like this one, be sure to buy the Sowetan newspaper from Mondays to Fridays
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