Traffic chief cleared of misconduct

Feb. 4, 2011 - PRLog -- Allegations by senior traffic managers that Western Cape traffic chief Kenny Africa misled the public about the arrest of drunk drivers to hide operational shortcomings could not be substantiated, an independent investigation has found.

Revealing the results of the investigation yesterday, Community Safety Department head Gilbert Lawrence said the matter had been finalised and that allegations of misconduct could not be substantiated.

“The collective grievance lodged by eight staff members was dealt with in terms of the official grievance procedure of the public service,” he said.

“Following an independent investigation, the allegations of misconduct could not be substantiated. The managerial issues are, however, being addressed internally.”

Lawrence said because of the seriousness of the allegations, certain “trust issues” needed to be restored.

In December, the senior managers accused Africa of employing misleading statistics about the arrest of drunk drivers in order to hide operational shortcomings.

The managers also accused Africa of taking promotional gifts meant to be handed out to motorists at roadblocks and of “blatantly” soliciting rugby tickets from the chief executives of local businesses.

The officials lodged a formal complaint against Africa, explaining their grievances in a six-page document, a copy of which was forwarded to the Cape Argus.

In the document, they claimed that Africa’s autocratic leadership style had resulted in a fractured traffic operation, which had led to a decrease in arrests for drunken driving.

When the drop in arrests became evident, Africa told managers to use police statistics instead, they claimed.

“Managers were then instructed to report on SAPS statistics and statistics were seen to have shown an increase. It was only a difference in what was reported,” the managers claimed.

When the police statistics also started showing a decrease, they alleged Africa told the media that the province’s anti-drunk driving campaigns were having an effect.

Shortly after the Cape Argus launched the LeadSA Name and Shame campaign, in which the newspaper published the names of motorists convicted of alcohol-related offences, Africa said it had led to a decrease in the number of arrests.

In the document, the officials also accused Africa of reversing the progress made during a sweeping transformation process launched between 2007 and 2009.

A management model that had been developed to systematically change the way the department worked and was aimed at empowering staff had been destroyed, they said.

“Since the appointment (of Africa) in April 2010, leadership development and management by objectives and all transformation issues came to a halt,” they said.

“The leadership culture changed to one of distrust and disempowerment. Since April, there were only six so-called management meetings – though meetings are scheduled to be held every Monday.”

They said managers were not allowed to function to their full job descriptions and their authority was undermined.

The officials complained that since his appointment, Africa had not communicated matters of strategy, policy and planning to his senior staff.

Melany Kuhn, spokeswoman for Community Safety MEC Albert Fritz, said the managers had each received written feedback on the outcome of the investigation.

“The concerns raised at management level are issues that are fixable. Those will be dealt with internally,” said Kuhn.

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Article sourced from:
http://www.thestar.co.za/traffic-chief-cleared-of-miscond...

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