Different sides: Minister of public works Patricia de lille. (David Harrison/M&G)
Allegations of sexual harassament, bullying and mismanagement have been hurled the way of the department of public works by two female whistleblowers who contend serious allegations have not been dealt with.
Minister Patricia de Lille, sources have said, has tried to protect the leaders of the South African Council for the Architectural Profession (Sacap), while the women who laid the complaints maintain they have been worked out of the department and victimised.
Sacap is the official architectural industry regulator, with more than 10 000 registered professionals.
The two whistleblowers who reported the claims have said they were never consulted during the investigations into their allegations. They have also not been allowed access to the investigation report. All they received was a short note informing them that there was no evidence of wrongdoing. Their complaints were dismissed.
In December 2020, Sinovuyo* an architect — who did not want to be named for fear of victimisation in the industry — filed a two-page affidavit alleging her boss, Sacap registrar Toto Fiduli, was a “pervert” who made unwanted sexual advances.
She goes into detail about the alleged incidents, including how on one occasion Fiduli made lewd remarks in front of a colleague.
Karuni Naidoo, also an architect, laid a separate complaint of alleged victimisation by Charles Nduku, Sacap’s president, saying she was removed on “ridiculous” charges.
One of the charges against her was of copying an external party into a Sacap email regarding plagiarism allegations.
According to documents seen by Mail & Guardian it took the department nine months to conduct the investigation into the allegations. During this period, the whistleblowers were not contacted.
The two who spoke to the M&G said they were not aware of who conducted the investigation, if they were accredited, or if any witnesses were called.
Since September 2021, the two whistleblowers have requested the investigation report, but to no avail. In March, the Democratic Alliance was told by De Lille that it could not have access to the report either after the party filed a promotion of access to information application.
The party is appealing against De Lille’s decision.
However, De Lille denies hiding the report. She told M&G that it had been given to the parliamentary oversight committee for her portfolio and that the investigation had “revealed no serious corporate governance challenges” at Sacap.
However, at least two members of parliament told M&G that their committee has not been informed of any such report.
Madeleine Hicklin and Wayne Thring disputed that the report had been received by the oversight committee, with both of them calling the alleged concealing of the report “an injustice” to the rights of the complainants, and “an indictment” of De Lille’s office.
Their views were supported by author and gender studies academic, Naleli Morojele, who said the complainants “were legally entitled to the report”.
Morojele, who has authored a book and published research on gender studies in the African public services, said that although South Africa had progressive legislation regarding equity in the workplace and fighting the harassment of women, this did not always translate to effective implementation.
Sexual harassment claims
“We should not take it for granted that, because Patricia de Lille is a woman, she would side with women in her sector. For gender equality in the public service, we need people who are genuinely committed to it, regardless of their gender,” said Morojele.
Sinovuyo, after having filed the complaint, resigned because of alleged victimisation. In two affidavits that formed part of the investigation, she accused Fiduli of making unwanted sexual advances to her since De Lille appointed her as a Sacap councillor in April 2019.
In her affidavits, both dated August 2021, Sinovuyo alleges that the “sexual harassment and bullying” began in April 2019 when Fiduli “targeted” her.
She listed incidents of the alleged abuse, including a July 2019 encounter during a work strategy session, when Fiduli supposedly made comments that Sinovuyo found to be lewd, allegedly in front of a councillor from the Engineering Council.
“We then had a tea break and as I was getting myself some light snacks and coffee, while conversing with the other [Engineering Council] member, [Fiduli] came and stood with us and he then asked the council member: ‘Isn’t she beautiful?’
“I asked the council member if he could see that the registrar is, I can’t remember the exact word, but I think I said a ‘pervert’. The councillor then responded to the tune of: ‘of the worst kind working in an office with women under him.’ The registrar then insisted for him to look at me because I was beautiful despite these responses,” reads Sinovuyo’s affidavit.
The M&G contacted the Engineering Council member, who did not respond to the questions, including whether he had been interviewed during the De Lille-commissioned investigation. Instead, he said: “I don’t know what you are talking about and please don’t ever contact me about this matter.”
Bullying allegations
Sinovuyo further alleged that, in April 2019, she was charged with misconduct for a project she said she “had no involvement in”.
“I believe that this complaint was used to target me, as I had never been involved in, nor had I ever worked on the project, nor had I ever met the client. I had not even signed any contract documentation pertaining to the project,” Sinovuyo stated.
Fiduli did not answer M&G’s questions about whether he had seen the report. Instead, he said: “All allegations have been fully investigated by the minister and the investigation found no evidence of any form of sexual harassment. Council is proceeding to sue the persons for defamation of character.”
He did not provide any proof of a lawsuit instituted by Sacap.
Naidoo officially resigned in September 2021 after nine months of allegedly being “frozen out “ of meetings and the running of the architectural council.
Her December 2020 complaint alleges victimisation by Nduku, Sacap’s president.
One of the charges was copying an external party into a Sacap email asking it to correct a plagiarised article the council had published as part of its women’s month profile campaign.
Naidoo did not name the architect whose article had been plagiarised by Sacap and said the article was published despite the architect asking for it to be retracted.
Nduku, in an internal note seen by M&G, acknowledged that the work had been plagiarised, but said Naidoo had “criticised the work of Sacap unfairly and portrayed Sacap as an organisation that is in disarray due to a minor error which was being corrected before the profiles could be published”.
Sinovuyo*. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)
Where is the report?
Nduku said the matter was investigated by the minister and “she would be in a better position to respond to your questions regarding the report”.
De Lille did not respond to questions about why the complainants had not received a copy or a summary of the report, nor did she respond to the abuse allegations levelled against Nduku and Fiduli.
“The report was submitted to the chairperson of the portfolio committee in September 2021. The investigation that was carried out by the department has revealed no serious corporate governance challenges in the Sacap,” De Lille said, denying she was part of any cover-up.
Nolitha Ntobongwana, the chairperson of the portfolio committee, did not respond to the M&G’s questions.
Hicklin, who is the DA member on the committee, said she is awaiting the appeal on her declined PAIA application, saying she wanted to know who conducted the investigation, and whether it was done by an accredited body.
“I have no verification that an investigation has taken place. We have the word of Sacap and the word of the [public works and infrastructure] department that an investigation was done, but there is no evidence,” Hicklin said.
Naidoo and Sinovuyo are still waiting to close this chapter.
“The report would help me understand the methodology used. Were the investigators qualified to investigate? It will help give me a full picture of whether it was done legally,” Sinovuyo said.
*Not her real name.
[/membership]