Sparks fly over 'incompetent' artisans
http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=13&art_id=vn20071031044530136C514518
Fears about the safety of electricity users in Tshwane and the appointment of alleged unskilled artisans in key positions in that council department will come under the spotlight in the Pretoria High Court.
A suspended managing engineer: power system control at the Tshwane Metro Council will on Thursday lock horns with his employer in a battle to retain his job.
All he wanted was to ensure the safety of the Tshwane citizens and now he may lose his job, claims Adrianaus Weyers.
He was found guilty of improper conduct at an internal hearing after he voiced his concerns with the council pressuring him to appoint unskilled electricians.
Weyers felt that if he appointed them, it could pose serious safety risks - not only to their fellow workers, but also to the public.
Weyers, who holds a master's degree in electrical engineering, was suspended two years ago.
He was due to be "punished" earlier this year on the charge of improper conduct. But the process was placed on hold pending the outcome of the court battle.
Weyers said he feared he would lose his job because he tried to be responsible by airing his concerns when the council wanted him to employ "incompetent" electricians.
He wrote letters to the Department of Labour and the Engineering Council of SA (Ecsa) stating his concerns. The letters dealt with the shortlisting of candidates - who he considered "incompetent" - for appointment as system operators within the council's power system control centre.
Weyers said he was told to shortlist certain candidates the council preferred and prohibited from shortlisting candidates who, in his view, were competent to assume the posts.
In the letters Weyers distanced himself from the process, saying appointing the people the council chose "could endanger the safety of the council, the people of Tshwane, as well as (harm) service delivery".
The council was outraged that Weyers had sent the letter without prior approval from the head of the electricity department. But Weyers stated that his job description entailed that he had to ensure the correct safety measures were applied in the city's voltage networks.
Anthony Faul of Ecsa stated that Weyers, as engineering council member, stated his concerns about being placed under pressure to appoint electricians to posts for which they were not qualified.
He also expressed concern that if he did not appoint the candidates the council chose, he could be fired.
But if he did appoint them it could give rise to serious safety risks. Ecsa urged Weyers to write the letter as the responsible thing to do.
But the Metro Council said Weyers did not comply with the internal grievance procedures and that it was not in the public interest to have written the letter.
The case was not about Weyers's expertise and qualifications, nor about "a man who did his duty". It was rather about the "question as to whether he was entitled to report what he regarded as dangerous working conditions and dangerous practices to outside parties".
The council claimed he was not.
It denied the candidates it had in mind were incompetent and the council was not so irresponsible as to endanger the lives of its residents.
Weyers was told during the judgment of his internal hearing that the candidates had been appointed and working "without any hazard for almost a year now". [as if that makes it right !]
