'Safety first, AA later'

Judge Bill Prinsloo interdicted the municipality from imposing any disciplinary sanction on one of its senior electrical engineers, Adrianus Weyers, for sending a letter of concern about his bosses' employment equity policy - which he said endangered city employees and the public - to the Engineering Council and the department of labour in 2005.

"I see no provision in the Employment Equity Act to the effect that non-designated (white) candidates should be excluded altogether. According to the preamble, the Act aims to promote "the constitutional right of equity and the exercise of true democracy" and eliminate "unfair discrimination in employment".

"...I fail to see how I can express approval for actions aimed at achieving (and accelerating) equity transformation at all costs and in disregard of safety considerations.

"This must be particularly true in the case of a lethal commodity like high voltage electricity.

"In my view there must be a sensible balance between considerations of employment equity on the one side and safety on the other side," the Judge said.

Careful selection

Weyers first raised his concerns with his seniors - and as a last resort wrote the letters, after being forced to appoint under-qualified black electricians to perform dangerous operations instead of better qualified whites.

Weyers was not only suspended for sending the letter, which the council insisted "put them in a bad light", but was thereafter also found guilty of "improper conduct" for sending the letter without prior approval.

He obtained a temporary interdict to stop his disciplinary hearing before he could be sentenced and then turned to the High Court for final relief, insisting that he had only been doing his duty as a professional engineer when he sent the letters.

Judge Prinsloo said it was clear that the work of system operators was significantly more dangerous and had greater potential negative implications for power supply to consumers than the work done by electricians employed in other parts of the municipality's electrical division.

Operators had to be carefully selected to ensure that they had the necessary technical and safety knowledge and operational adequacy. It was the insistence of Weyers' managers that only employment equity (black) candidates would be considered and that he must appoint operators whom he felt simply did not have the necessary skills that moved him to write the letters.

Weyers insisted that appointing incompetent candidates was in breach of his obligations as a professional engineer.

Genuine concerns

Judge Prinsloo said there was no shortage of motivation for short listing only white candidates. Nevertheless sincere efforts were made by all concerned, before the intervention of the then newly-appointed electrical development manager, Benny Mahlangu, to compile an equity friendly short list.

He said Mahlangu had, however, not been "sensitive" and paid no regard to his own employer's equity policy. The last thing on his mind was the safety of employees or members of the public. It was only equity that mattered.

The judge found that Weyers' concerns were genuine, that he had a duty to pay due regard to public safety considerations as a professional person.

He had not made the disclosures for personal gain, was reasonable in doing so and had acted in the public interest.

Weyers had acted in good faith and had the reasonable belief that the actions of his employer endangered, or were likely to endanger the safety or health of the public or fellow employees.

He could not legally be held liable for writing the letter and his disciplinary sanction was therefore unlawful, Judge Prinsloo found.