Khadija Magardie
One of the leading lights of the Commission for Gender Equality, Dr Farid Esack, has thrown his weight behind deposed chief executive Colleen Lowe-Morna, who is bringing an urgent interdict to overturn the commission’s decision to fire her.
In affidavits before the Johannesburg High Court, Esack has also called for an inquiry into the way the embattled commission has dealt with recent labour disputes, the state of its finances, and the effects of the upheavals on its image and reputation.
Esack was due to appear as the first applicant in the case this week. The case was postponed from Tuesday to later in the week because the commission’s responses to Lowe-Morna’s allegations were only delivered to the judge the night before the hearing.
Lowe-Morna had been informed by the commission in November that an offer to resign, which she had withdrawn, had in fact been accepted. When she returned from an African women’s conference in Addis Ababa, she found herself locked out of her office.
Meanwhile, staff at the commission’s offices in Braamfontein are said to be bitter and demoralised by ongoing battles within the organisation. One staff member, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that morale is at an all-time low, and that many colleagues fear they will be next in line for axing.
An internally circulated memo,which is in the posession of the Mail & Guardian, warns staff that anyone taking time off work to attend the high court hearing will be subject to disciplinary action.
Commission chair Joyce Piliso-Seroke has been appointed acting CEO, and a representative from the Department of Justice has been seconded to assist in the finance department.