Gustav Thiel
Mojalefa Murphy, one of South Africa’s most senior black nuclear physicists, has won the first round in a dispute with the Atomic Energy Corporation (AEC). This week, the Pretoria High Court ruled that Murphy was entitled to have an independent mediator preside over a disciplinary hearing the AEC is holding against him. The corporation had planned to have its chief executive, Waldo Stumpf, as judge at the hearing.
Murphy was suspended in November from his executive position, pending a hearing into his alleged failure to submit details of credit card expenditure and also following the wrong procedure in dismissing an employee of the corporation.
Murphy, a returned exile who specialises in radiation physics, was appointed to transform the image of the AEC.
Judge BC van den Heever found this week that a binding agreement had been concluded between Murphy and Stumpf that an independent representative of the Independent Mediation Service of South Africa would chair the disciplinary inquiry. The AEC later reneged on this agreement.
Murphy had argued that Stumpf was biased against him, a charge the corporation denied. It had contended that it had a right to follow its own internal procedures for disciplinary hearings. The AEC has been ordered to pay costs.
Murphy said in response to the judgment: “The AEC has always been plagued with a high black staff turnover, which is attributed to the management’s failure to create and maintain an enabling environment for people who were excluded from the development of the corporation and its culture.”