Question NW579 to the Minister of Defence and Military Veterans
10 April 2018 - NW579
Mhlongo, Mr P to ask the Minister of Defence and Military Veterans
Whether she received a formal complaint with regard to a certain person (name and details furnished) who is allegedly bullying employees of the Internal Audit Division of the Department of Defence in the workplace; if so, (a) on what date did she receive the specified complaint, (b) what were the relevant details of the complaint and (c) what steps did she take in this regard?
Reply:
a. On what date did she receive the specified complaint
The Minister of Defence and Military Veterans did not receive any formal complaint from the Internal Audit Division employees with regard to the said certain person. However, an anonymous collective complaint was received by the office of the Secretary for Defence during September 2016.
b. What were the relevant details of the complaint?
The anonymous collective complaint was regarding allegations of unhealthy working environment, victimisation and poor work relations from the Internal Audit Division.
c. What steps did she take in this regard?
Due to the fact that the complaint was anonymous, complex and broad the Department of Defence (HR Division) could not register this matter on the Individual Grievance IT System, which is a tool available to deal with all grievances of officials in the department.
The Secretary for Defence instructed the Chief Human Resource to conduct a suitability to work assessment with regard to the complaint since it is HR related. After assessing the anonymous complaint a team of Psychologist from Military Psychological Institute as well as Management Renewal Services personnel were appointed to conduct a comprehensive investigation with implementable recommendations.
The organisational diagnosis is finalised and the department is in the process of implementing the recommendations.