The alleged cases at the Secretariat office called Plant Genetic Resources Centre (SPGRC) centre around an alleged male perpetrator named Dr Justify Gotami Shava, a Zimbabwean national. The latter has reportedly left many employees at the office emotionally scarred and some fearing for their livelihoods. Details emerged during an ongoing Tribunal session before a panel of three Judges from various parts of Southern African region where one Sthembiso Mbhele, South African citizen and a Senior Programme Officer Ex Situ Conservation located in Lusaka, Zambia has filed a case against SADC alleging unfair dismissal. Evidence before the SADC Administrative Tribunal (SADCAT), which is being presided over by Justices Dr Sanji Monageng, Rodgers Manyangadze and Dr Adelino Muhongo, suggest that the SADC head at the Zambian SPGRC office, one Shava has been terrorising the employees.
The latter have reported being diagnosed with different illnesses related to extreme stress. Different employees who had been subpoenaed before court gave account of how they are made to live in fear and struggle with a toxic environment due to Shava’s alleged harassment, abuse and constant character assassination of different nationalities at the office. Witnesses who could not be named for fear of further victimisation have alleged that Shava has characterised citizens of South Africa as, ‘lazy and rebellious’, Batswana as, ‘lazy' while Zambians are said to be ‘thieves and as technically incompetent’. “The environment is so toxic that most of us have been to the doctor numerous times and diagnosed with similar illnesses related to stress. We are called names like lazy and thieves. We are also subjected to inappropriate conversations,” said one witness. Witnesses fear losing their jobs as it was evidenced by one witness who requested that she be assured that her job would be safe as she testifies against the said Shava. She told the Tribunal recently that Shava once told her that she will have a job to feed her family but she will not have a life. The witness, who kept breaking into tears, said she could not understand why the boss told her that and wondered if he made reference to one employee who has passed away as she (deceased) was also subjected to Shava’s alleged terror.
Though she told Tribunal that Shava never made a direct sexual pass at her, he would sometimes have inappropriate conversations that made her uncomfortable. “I remember one incident where we were travelling in the official vehicle to join other employees at an event 300km from our base. Along the way he started making me uncomfortable by suggesting that two adults can have a sexual relationship without any strings attached. I was so uncomfortable that during that night I changed from where we were lodging to a different lodge just so I can avoid him,” she said. The evidence led before the SADCAT indicated that even though some male employees are also subjected to abuse, the gender that has been most affected by the rampant abuse is the female employees. One of the witnesses stated: “I am not the only one who is a victim. The women are the most hit. The abuse and threats are the order of the day. The environment is so toxic that most of us dread going to work. The trail of threats, humiliation, intimidation executed under the auspices of the SADC Secretariat are heart breaking”. As it has been alleged from the evidence led before the Tribunal, women abuse is so rampant so much that the court had to adjourn several times as most of them broke down during their testimonies. It has been evident as per testimonies that sexual harassment is the order of the day at the SADC Plant Genetic Resources Centre (SPGRC) office with most of the testimonies made before the judges traumatising and one of the women was at some stage forced to change place of abode in fear of possible harassment.
Though many were directly fearful to say it, evidence before the Tribunal insinuated that this abuse could have contributed to the demise of Shava’s Administrative Assistant, the late Mary Phiri, a Zambian national who many witnesses also indicated that she was one of those who were at the receiving end of Shava’s alleged unrelenting behaviour. According to Mbhele’s case that has opened a can of worms, it appeared through the evidence produced before court was that she was fired for an error in a sick note. In her court papers she explained that there was no evidence to suggest that the SADC Secretariat did its own investigation to prove any of the allegations against her particularly the contested sick note. Instead she said they relied on hearsay evidence provided by her supervisor, Shava. "I have produced medical reports. During the hearing, I produced both the statement from medical insurance indicating my date of consultation and the statement from Pearl of Health Medical Centre as additional evidence confirming the authenticity of the sick note that I was issued with and submitted to the Secretariat," she said.
According to her, the supervisor alleged that she did not consult the Doctor on December 12, 2021 as she claimed because the sick note was mistakenly dated 13th and that during the hearing she produced evidence in the form of a text message about the incorrect sick note. She explained that she could not falsify a sick note as she was already in South Africa and the sick note was scanned and she uploaded it on the electronic leave application system. "On arrival back to Zambia, I received a written warning from my supervisor that I had falsified a sick note. The driver also received a warning letter from my supervisor alleging that he had bribed a nurse on my behalf," she argued. Mbhele further pointed out that all the evidence she submitted to demonstrate her innocence was completely ignored and not heard by those empowered by SADC to impartially determine such contractual dispute. On allegations of poor work performance, Mbhele said she was surprised why her issue was brought into the disciplinary hearing because at the SADC Secretariat there is a performance management policy, which guides what supervisors need to do in the event an employee is under performing, which includes a performance improvement plan. "I have never undergone any performance improvement plan. My supervisor uses performance to attack and victimise me and other colleagues at SPGRC," she noted.
Mbhele also submitted that to illustrate her alleged poor performance, her supervisor made reference to issues that are not true and used pictures of bottled access seeds of 2012 as evidence when she only joined SADC Secretariat in 2019. "He again included issues which he claims I was guilty of but which occurred on days when I was on leave. I provided evidence to that effect including evidence contradicting his claims in instances when I was not at work," she noted. Mbhele's arguments were supported by one other witness who said she directly dealt with employees’ sick notes. She brought many of them into the Tribunal saying that when they had an error, she was often informed to tell the ‘sick’ employee to make corrections. She said it was a norm for employees to be told to correct the said sick note without being subjected to harsh reaction. Mbhele is represented by Dutch Leburu from Monthe Marumo & Co.
