feet’
Sharon Hammond
A senior manager in the Kruger National Park was accused this week of being a foul- mouthed tyrant who terrified his staff members and tortured animals.
The Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) heard in Nelspruit that the trails and information manager, Bruce Bryden, allegedly cut off the feet of elephants while the animals were still alive, and drove a staff member into psychiatric counselling.
“People are terrified of you. You are loud, swear regularly, especially to your inferiors and shout at the people you work with,” said Dunstan Farrell, legal representative for a former game ranger who brought a case of constructive dismissal against the world- renowned reserve six months ago.
The ranger, Wayne Lotter, said his life was made so unbearable by Bryden and an alleged clique of conservative senior managers during his 10 years at the park that he was finally forced to resign in May last year.
The commission was presented with a character sketch of Bryden as a man who allegedly boasted about his hunting prowess and once holed up with his son in toilets at a campsite before going on an orgy of baboon-killing once the tourists had left. He is alleged to have cut the feet off elephants after they had been darted but were still alive.
“We need to establish the nature of the type of person we’re dealing with here,” said Farrell after the park’s legal representative objected.
Farrell said Bryden wielded a great deal of influence among certain managers in the park and at its mother body, the South African National Parks. He said this was why Lotter’s job was never properly graded, eventually leading to a situation where his subordinates earned more than he did.
Lotter told the CCMA earlier that Bryden’s alleged grudge against him began when he questioned the way in which elephants were shot for ranger training and when he complained about the poor career prospects for black staff.
Bryden denied that he held a grudge against Lotter, and instead praised him for the work he did when he was appointed manager of the Alien Biota division. He denied treating animals or staff members poorly.
He said elephants targeted for culling were darted from helicopters before their throats were slit and that their feet were only hacked off once they were dead. The feet were later sold as curios. Baboons were allowed to be shot as pests, he added.
He rejected claims that he was part of a conservative clique of Broederbond members opposed to transformation in the park.
He said he had no influence over job grading, though he did belong to the same tennis club as the chair of the core grading committee. No one involved in the grading process was prepared to explain to the commission how Lotter’s job was graded.
Park director David Mabunda testified that at least 20% of personnel at the park were still opposed to transformation, but insisted they did not hold sway.
“There are checks and balances to ensure that sort of thing doesn’t happen,” he said.
He admitted that the grading system was faulty, however, and acknowledged Lotter’s long history of “fruitless efforts” to persuade the management of the park to give him a better deal.
“Unfortunately, when I was appointed, he did not believe I could change the situation,” said Mabunda.
He said that since Lotter had left, he had been able to regrade 23 staff members in similar predicaments. The hearings ended on Wednesday and the commission is expected to release its findings within the next two weeks. – African Eye News Service