Sharon Hammond
A game ranger who fought the bureaucracy of the Kruger National Park for more than 10 years put the world-renowned reserve in the dock this week, exposing an inner ring of senior managers more intent on empire building than conservation.
Wayne Lotter has brought a case of constructive dismissal before the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA). He said his life in the park was made unbearable when he questioned the way in which elephants were shot for ranger training and when he complained about the poor career prospects of black staff.
Rangers in the park were required to shoot at least two elephants each a year as training to test their reflexes and judgments when in danger. The elephants were supposed to be shot while charging rangers, but Lotter told the CCMA the terrified animals were forced to flee by hovering helicopters.
“The exercise was meant to be a simulation of a real-life charge, but instead you had terrified elephants fleeing from helicopters,” he said. In one incident, an elephant fled for several kilometres with a bullet in its head before the helicopter was able to land and a ranger able to kill the animal.
He acknowledged the importance of training rangers for dangerous confrontations, but suggested they do not use helicopters and that they at least be trained in marksmanship. “Some poor marksmen were allowed to practice on the elephants and the animals deserved better.”
As a result of his criticisms, he said, the trails and information manager in the nature conservation division of the park, Bruce Bryden, held a grudge against him. “I had criticised the system and didn’t know Bryden was one of its architects.”
He said there was a clique of senior managers who operated more on a “buddy- buddy” system than on merit. Choice jobs were often not advertised but would go to the “friend of the month”.
When Lotter began a campaign to create better opportunities for black staff, it did not go down well with management. “I never got any responses to any of the letters I wrote. They began eroding even the simple privileges I had as a ranger, such as being allowed to keep pets or walk or ride my motorbike in the veld.” Efforts to have his post correctly graded and to be remunerated for 27 months’ worth of back pay fell on deaf ears.
The commission was told Bryden was on the committees meant to grade Lotter’s post, and that many other members of his “clique” were on the same committees. Lotter’s post was never upgraded, resulting in his junior staffers earning more than he did.
Lotter claims the park owes him at least R242 000 in short pay, though he stressed his decision to go the CCMA was not motivated by getting the money – rather he hoped that the case would lead to a clean- up of the clique of senior managers who “wagged the dog”.
He said before he resigned last May, the new director of the park, who is also its first black head, David Mabunda, had indicated that he wanted to help him, but he then referred him to the same people who had been reluctant to help him over the years. “It was just no use,” said Lotter.
The case was postponed to May 18. – African Eye News Service