Johannesburg’s cultural politicians experienced a week of turmoil, reports HAZEL FRIEDMAN
CHRISTOPHER TILL has lost his battle to hang on to the title of Johannesburg’s director of culture, despite massive support from the South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU). The predominantly black union has rallied around Till ever since the Greater Johannesburg Transitional Metropolitan Council (GJTMC) announced that Till’s job would be taken by Victor Modise (see pic) from the Gauteng Provincial Legislature. And surprisingly, given their general support for the principle of affirmative action, SAMWU is crying foul.
The union maintains that in its efforts to implement transformations in the various metropolitan sub- structures the GJTMC ignored an agreement ratified by unions around the world that government appointments should favour insiders before outsiders. On Tuesday, Till lodged a formal objection against the appointment of Modise as executive officer of metro arts and culture, development and facilities – on the grounds that the correct appointment procedures had not been followed. But in his ruling delivered on Wednesday, the executive officer of staffing and remuneration management, Hennie Steenkamp, stated that there was no evidence to suggest improper conduct on the part of the selection panel, and that they ”could therefore not be found at fault in terms of procedural and substantive fairness”. He concluded that ”the appointment of Mr Modise would be upheld”.
Till has refused to comment on the matter. Modise, who has yet to accept the appointment officially, also has little to say on the subject: ”Whatever objections are being lodged against procedure have nothing to do with me,” he says.
But the branch officer for SAMWU, Melinda Miller, is less reticent. ”It’s a matter of principle because this was an unmistakably political appointment,” she says. ”If you look at Till and Modise’s CVs and track records, there’s no question as to who is better qualified for the position. Unlike Till, Modise has no managerial experience. Till created the job from nothing in 1991 and has taken arts and culture forward. Yet this is how he has been rewarded.” She adds: ”And the unions were never brought into the consultative process.”
But Steenkamp insists that ”the unions were invited to attend the interviews as observers.”
”We screened all the applicants very carefully,” says the recently appointed strategic executive of sport, art, culture and economic development, Danie Malan. ”Points were awarded according to system worked out by our human resources staff and a shortlist of candidates for the job was interviewed by a panel consisting of the relevant strategic executive and chairperson of the Section 59 committee before the executive committee made the final decision. The interviews were taped and documented and are available for public scrutiny. The process was totally transparent.”
But SAMWU disagrees. ”Politicians who don’t know about interviewing techniques get involved in the selection of new appointments. And outsiders are often appointed in flagrant violation of an agreement reached by the interim industrial council which stipulates that appointments should be made internally before external applicants are considered. It is clear that when it comes to culture, politics wins hands down.”
As a council employee, Till is not in danger of being thrown out on the street. But in terms of a special proclamation passed by the previous local authorities in anticipation of the transformation process, if civil servants are not offered positions equal to those they lost, they can claim redundancy, which entitles them to financial compensation. There are rumours that Till might be offered a post as cultural executive officer for the Western Metropolitan Substructure. If he accepts, the man responsible for the Arts Alive Festival, the Newtown Cultural Precinct and the 1995 Johannesburg Biennale will take on the development of Soweto’s neglected cultural landscape.