The KwaZulu-Natal Health Department has done an about-turn and now wants to settle with the Amigos case wistle-blower.
|||Durban - The KwaZulu-Natal Health Department has done an about-turn and now wants to settle with a department attorney who says she was suspended for being a whistle-blower in the multimillion-rand Amigos case.
Kantha Padayachee, who was the department’s legal services manager, went to the Labour Court to get her three-year suspension uplifted.
She claimed she was suspended on trumped-up misconduct charges after she disclosed details of alleged corrupt practices to the police.
She was suspended from her job in February 2010, a day after she met a Hawks detective who was investigating the so-called Amigos fraud case, she said.
The department had said in court papers that Padayachee’s claims were unfounded and that she had been suspended as a result of misconduct charges brought against her.
The department said she had been charged with seven counts of misconduct, alleging that she used vulgar and disrespectful language when speaking to staff, displayed favouritism towards one employee and ill-treated staff because of her alleged racism.
They also denied that Padayachee had been a whistle-blower and said the department itself had initiated probes that led to the charges.
The trial had been set down for this week in the Labour Court, but on Monday Judge Hamilton Cele appeared to be taken by surprise when Padayachee’s advocate, Rajesh Choudree, said a settlement had been reached.
The news of a settlement came after advocate Laurence Broster, who was acting for the Health MEC, had cross-examined Padayachee for most of the morning.
While Padayachee had merely asked for the lifting of her suspension and costs, it is believed that any deal struck would not require her to return to work and would involve some offer of compensation.
In the “Amigos” case, Uruguayan businessman Gaston Savoi and several senior KZN government employees were charged with racketeering, fraud and money laundering, with a potential cost to the provincial government of R144 million.
The State alleges Savoi made a R1m donation to the ANC to secure the contract to supply water purification and oxygen-generating plants to the provincial departments of Local Government and Health.
Former KZN Health MEC Peggy Nkonyeni was initially charged, but charges were withdrawn last October.
Padayachee testified earlier that Nkonyeni, now education MEC, had told her about the donation when she had raised concerns about the contract for oxygen-generating plants.
She said Nkonyeni, who was then the ANC provincial treasurer, had told her she had been under pressure to conclude the deal with Savoi so the ANC could get a R1m donation from Savoi’s company, Intaka.
On Monday, Broster asked Padayachee why she had not advised Nkonyeni not to go ahead with the deal.
Padayachee said she had been uncomfortable and it had been a “restrained conversation”. “She was an authority above me and I could not speak to her in a normal manner. I was scared.”
Nkonyeni has previously denied the allegations.
The case was adjourned until later this week for the settlement agreement to be drafted.
kamini.padayachee@inl.co.za
The Mercury