BIUST fires whistleblower
Staff Writer | Tuesday January 16, 2024 06:00
Following the delivery of judgment on Tuesday last week at the Majestic Hotel, Palapye, BIUST director of human resources, Dudley Senabye, was readily armed as he fired Dr Malatsi Galani on the spot, giving him 10 days to appeal.
A member of the BIUST Council and also a BOSETU shop-steward at BIUST, Dr Galani had filed a whistle-blowing report with BIUST Council Chairman against Professor Otlogetswe Totolo.
Things took a sour turn for the whistle-blower when he was slapped with indefinite suspension which later resulted in him being subpoenaed for a disciplinary hearing that ultimately ended his career at the University. BIUST levelled a series of charges against Dr Galani relating to the 'unlawful possession' of the Vice Chancellor’s contract, as well as a computer programme that management believed contained certain records that Dr Galani used to allege Prof Totolo’s excesses.
Meanwhile, BOSETU secretary-general, Tobokani Rari said the union would support Dr. Galani and appeal the findings of the disciplinary panel led by attorney Basimane Bogopa, Tshoganetso Rantshilo and Bennet Maifala. In their reaction, BOSETU said the so-called disciplinary panel was a kangaroo court which was assembled illegally with the sole intention to come up with a cooked-up verdict of guilt against Dr. Galani.
BOSETU opined that the guilty verdict that the panel arrived at was predetermined and “an instruction from their masters, the top brass of the university.” “We had at the beginning of hearing pointed out to the so-called disciplinary panel that it had been illegally assembled, contrary to article 10.5.1 (ii) of the BIUST Terms and conditions of Service that points out that “Each committee shall consist of a chairman, two management representatives, a human resources official (as advisor and secretary) and a legal services official (as advisor and secretary),” Rari said.
According to Rari, the panel was instead made up of all people who are not members of the University and were single-handedly picked by the university management without adhering to the above regulated composition. "We brought this to their attention and asked them to recuse themselves, but they rather chose to ignore this legitimate call and decided to stick on and proceeded with the hearing with the intention to pronounce a guilty verdict as assigned, just as they did,” charged Rari. He further said they were surprised that when the sanction was being read to Dr Galani on January 9, 2024 recommending dismissal to the BIUST Vice Chancellor, the human resource director was standing outside with the whistle-blower’s letter of dismissal from the university. "When would the Vice Chancellor have heard that the panel had recommended dismissal to have already written the dismissal letter? This no doubt shows that the so-called independent disciplinary panel had always been conferring with the university management," said Rari reacting to the outcome of the case. “We are, therefore, not surprised by this outcome as it was expected.
We will fight to the bitter end to protect our shop-steward and members of BOSETU at the institution. This case is quite fundamental to us as a union, as it involves fighting corruption to protect public funds. This case involves protecting whistl-blowers in exposing heinous acts of crime and maladministration.
If we don’t protect Dr Galani, then other whistle-blowers will be intimidated and shy away from blowing the whistle to protect public goods, not only at BIUST but in all other public institutions.” According to BOSETU, Judge Lekorwe in the case of Dr. Galani Vs BIUST has put it succinctly that “we cannot suppress and muzzle whistle blowing using institutional confidential clauses”. “We have today met the union attorneys for advice on the matter. We will be triggering a process of an alternative dispute resolution mechanism, which will commence with an appeal process that will end up at the industrial court and ultimately court of appeal if not resolved,” Rari said.