Disciplinary Processes against former President Thobile Ntola

The National Executive Committee of the South African Democratic Teachers Union ("the Union") would like to report to its members and the public in general on the outcome of the disciplinary hearing of its former President Mr Thobile Ntola ("Ntola").

We would firstly like to indicate that the disciplinary proceedings against Ntola were conducted in line with the constitution of the Union as amended in October 2010 ("the constitution").

The Union's constitution contains guidelines for the functioning of disciplinary committees. It provides "that any member, site steward or office bearer of the Union may have disciplinary steps taken against him/her if they act in a manner detrimental to the Union or, in contravention of its policies."

This clarifies the confusion that has been deliberately created in the media by some people including Ntola himself that the decision to discipline him was a political ploy. We wish to reiterate that no one is immune or exempted from the disciplinary process of the union.

The same policies were applied when Ntola was the chairperson of the National Disciplinary Committee involved in cases of the former President Madisha, former chairperson of Limpopo and many other members and leaders.

We are stunned by the double standards that he and others want us to apply when it comes to his case. They clearly want us to adopt the animal farm approach where he is seen to be more equal than others.

Section 7,8 of our constitution reads as follows: "All members, including Office Bearers, shall be subject to the SADTU Code of Discipline, which shall be determined by the NEC from time to time, and also to any disciplinary processes or sanction defined in such code".

As the union we have afforded Ntola an ample opportunity in the spirit of fair procedure to present his side of the story to the investigation and subsequent disciplinary hearing. Despite all the attempts he refused to cooperate with the investigations and failed to attend the disciplinary hearing.

As you are all aware, Ntola was suspended and subsequently charged for misconduct. The Union brought ten (10) charges against him.

The inquiry was initially scheduled for 31st March - 02 April 2014. On the first day of the inquiry Ntola was not present. His legal representative attended and presented two (2) medical certificates indicating that Ntola was unable to attend the disciplinary inquiry on 31 March 2014 based on medical grounds.

The one medical certificate states that Ntola was examined on 27 March 2014 and that he would be unfit for work from 3 March 2014 to 9 March 2014. The second medical certificate states that Ntola was examined on 27 March 2014 and he would be unfit for work from 31 March 2014 to 9 April 2014. The clear contradiction of the two medical certificates begs a question of authenticity of such certificates.

Evidence was presented that on Saturday, 29 March 2014 Ntola was seen at the Cape Town International Jazz Festival held at the Cape Town International Convention Centre and on Sunday 30 March 2014, a day before the hearing he was seen checking in at the Cape Town International Airport.

It is without doubt that Mr Ntola was not sick but chose to undermine the constitutionally convened hearing of the union wherein an opportunity was presented to him to state his case.

Despite the above, the proceedings were postponed to 14 April 2014. Again Ntola did not appear and instead a letter was sent by his new attorneys advising that they were not in a position to proceed with the inquiry and advised Ntola to attend the inquiry in person. Needless to say Ntola did not appear in person.

Ntola is the President of the Union and as such the highest official. It is expected of him to respect the processes of the Union and he seems to have no regard whatsoever for those processes. Accordingly the disciplinary inquiry proceeded in his absence.

Let us emphasise that he was afforded three opportunities to put his side of the story but rather preferred not to, we see this as a clear sign of undermining the Union's constitution which is supposed to be the custodian of.

Summary of the charges brought against Ntola and on which he was found guilty:

1. He purported to the media on the 2nd of August 2013 that SADTU had accepted the apology by Mr Vavi on sexual misconduct when in fact SADTU had not adopted any position concerning his apology, he thus brought the Union into disrepute and caused confusion amongst the membership.

2. He continuously breached the Union's protocol on the media. This is against an NEC decision that communication must be allocated to the office of the General Secretary. The NEC took this decision after noting that on several occasions the Union had been seen as an organisation sending confusing messages in the media and that this was again observed on the issue of Vavi.

3. He brought the Union into disrepute by addressing the media and referring to NEC members as the enemies of Vavi and "just a small group of people in a corner" where as the NEC in terms of the Constitution is the highest decision making body in between National Congresses and NGCs, he thus failed to act in a manner expected of his office as the President of SADTU and in a manner that advances the interests of the Union.

4. He breached the conditions of his suspension communicated to him which took effect on the 13 August 2013 by amongst others continuing to address Union structures such as a mass meeting of the Motlanti Mmekwa Region of the Union on the 11th of April and another one in Bochabela, Free State. The fact that he was addressing these meetings and mobilizing support for himself indicates a clear lack of respect for the Union's internal processes.

5. He committed misconduct by endorsing Via Afrika on behalf of SADTU, a publishing company without the Union having authorised him to do so. At the time of his endorsement of the company he was aware of a dispute that SADTU had been involved in with Via Afrika, the endorsement of the advert was supposed to be authorised by the NEC which had not done so, his action was thus not in the interest of the Union. It is also our view as the NEC that the endorsement of Via Afrika by Ntola was not for free.

6. He misused his position as the President of SADTU for personal gain by having private dealings with some of the Union's service providers. These service providers are, Safrican Insurance Company Limited which purchased property for the amount of R3,5 million that he uses as his residential home since 2011. This house would cost anyone Plus R35,000 per month in bond repayments.

According to the evidence presented, Ntola blackmailed this service provider to provide him with the house failing which its contract of doing insurance business with the Union would be taken away from it.

He used his power as President of the Union to demand from another service provider "Capital Car" to provide him with cars for his personal use and that of his family, this he did without the Union's authorization as per its policy. He did not disclose the above benefits and thus brought the Union into disrepute and clearly abused his position.

7. He committed misconduct by receiving various sums of money from a service provider of the Union without disclosing it. A director of one of the companies testified that he had an arrangement with Ntola in terms of which he gives him a monthly allowance. The monthly arrangement is an amount of R10 000 per month and has been paid to Ntola since he became the President of the union. We wish to categorically state that, there is no NEC or Congress resolution authorising the President of the Union to receive any monthly allowance from service providers.

8. He acted in breach of his duties as the President of SADTU by undertaking to arrange for an increase of the payments to "Safrican", this is despite having no authority to discuss possible payments to be made to a service provider.

The evidence presented indicates that the service provider and Ntola discussed a scheme in which an exit plan would be facilitated for Ntola. The agreement was that Ntola would go into business with him. In order to fund the venture they would raise funds through the business which the service provider conducted with the Union.

The agreement was that Ntola will influence the Union as President to increase the contributions which members of the Union made to the scheme by 50 cents per member but without increasing the benefits. The Union would influence members to pay an additional 50 cents (this would translate into R130,000 per month from 260,000 members)towards the premium contribution.

The money will then be paid to "Safrican" which in turn will pay the service provider commission. The above conduct clearly shows that Ntola was not acting in the best interest of the members of the Union and was pursuing his own personal financial gain.

9. He committed misconduct in that he sought to facilitate the appointment of Edu Solutions to supply services to the Department of Education in the Eastern Cape.

He tried to persuade or influence the Head of Department to appoint a company called "Edu Solution" to provide textbooks in the Eastern Cape for certain categories of schools. When the HOD did not cooperate to ensure that "Edu Solutions" was appointed his relationship with Ntola broke down. According to the HOD, when "Edu Solutions" was not appointed Ntola started campaigning and instigating strikes by teachers and demanding the removal of the HOD.

10. He failed to advance the interests of SADTU consequent to his amongst others being a beneficiary of Lebone Litho Printers. SADTU adopted a position regarding Lebone and the former Director General in the Department of Basic Education.

He studiously refused to endorse the position adopted by SADTU regarding Lebone and the Director General in the Department of Basic Education. There is uncontested evidence that Lebone Litho Printers made several payments for Ntola and his family over a period of time, this includes travel and accommodation.

Conclusion

The SADTU constitution imposes a duty on the President to ensure the enforcement of the constitution.

His conduct has in certain instances caused divisions amongst members of the Union. For instance addressing a meeting of members of SADTU on 11 April 2014 at the Odi Indoor Sport Centre, while he was under suspension. His conduct caused confrontation amongst members of the Union.

Ntola also instigated members of SADTU at a meeting in Bochabela to withhold their subscriptions to the Union and demand his reinstatement after he was suspended. The said meeting is the one that resolved that he should not attend the hearing. Those in the "amen" corner (his supporters are making claims that he was prevented from attending the hearing are pathological liars and will continue to use media platform to confuse members because they want to leave the union).

The NEC was mostly disturbed by the statements in which he said that "Vavi's enemies in SADTU did not want him to attend a COSATU special central executive committee meeting and hence he was suspended". He was also quoted as saying that he was suspended for allowing Vavi to speak at a recent Union gathering.

For Ntola to refer to his colleagues in the NEC and the Union as enemies of Vavi is indicative of him undermining the NEC.

These statements were deliberately made to create confusion and to divide the members. As it is clear from the facts indicated above, the suspension of Ntola did not only centre around his statements regarding Vavi. He was suspended, inter alia, for his inappropriate relationship with service providers. He was therefore less than candid when he made media statements to the effect that his suspension emanated from his statements regarding Vavi.

He was not suspended for allowing Vavi to address SADTU conference in the Eastern Cape as he made people to believe but for accepting his apology unmandated by the Union. He knew that if he uses the Vavi issue he was bound to receive sympathy and hide his actions. He knew that the NEC took a decision to investigate him in May already after the work to rule campaign.

Based on the report of the independent Chairperson of the disciplinary hearing, the NEC resolved that Ntola be dismissed as President of the Union.

The NEC further resolved that his membership be suspended for a period of ten (10) years.

The NEC then resolved to deal with misconduct in the union including those who use the name of the Union to exploit teachers by selling posts. The Union cannot sell posts it doesn't have. Corruption must be rooted out in the Union and the public education sector.

The NEC has reiterated its 2012 position that it will not allow anarchy and chaos to prevail. It will be failing in its duty if it were to allow some members to March and present memorandum to the national headquarters. Members of SADTU know the Union structures and their respective duties.

Boko Haram

SADTU would also like to join the chorus of condemnation against the Nigerian extremist group Boko Haram which kidnapped over 200 girls in one of the schools in that country. We are saddened by this act of cowardice and see it as the lowest possible form of engagement or making their demands.

The abduction of these innocent souls whose only crime was to seek an education is inhumane to say the least and we want to call upon all stakeholders including the government of Nigeria to intensify their efforts to rescue them. On the same note, we want to make a call for security measures to be improved in all schools in the continent and in the world. Getting an education is a basic human right and all must be protected whilst within the school environment.

New Premiers and Parliamentarians

Let us also take this opportunity to congratulate the 8 premiers and parliamentarians that have been deployed by the ANC to be sworn in shortly. We are confident that they are up to the task and that with their leadership we can indeed move South Africa forward.

Statement issued by the SADTU Secretariat, May 21 2014

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