After being fired for allegedly raping a mental health patient twice, a male nurse will now be reinstated by the North West Department of Health, which has also been ordered to pay him nearly R1m.
Machecha Zacharia Mathithibala, who was fired from Bophelong Hospital in Mahikeng in May 2022 and was also unsuccessful in his internal appeal in August last year, subsequently sought intervention from the Public Health and Social Development Sectoral Bargaining Council (PHSDSBC).
Mathithibala denied there was any sexual intercourse between him and the alleged victim, who was observed by a psychiatrist to be suffering from bipolar and manipulative disorder.
He also testified that it would have been impossible for him to have any sexual encounter with her as patients locked their rooms at night, that his relationship with the patient was strictly that of nurse-patient, and that the decision to dismiss him had broken him emotionally and psychologically.
He has been unemployed since 2022, reports IOL.
The patient had told the hospital’s operational manager that she slept with Mathithibala at night – despite being under police guard – after being drugged, then woken up, and undressed. She claimed he offered her money.
The operational manager, who was a witness, told the bargaining council it was rare to have rape cases reported at the facility and that Mathithibala had worked with other female patients without any previous reports of a sexual nature.
The ruling by PHSDSBC commissioner Mzondi Molapo was that Mathithibala’s dismissal was substantively unfair and the evidence of witnesses remained uncorroborated hearsay.
“The respondent failed on a balance of probabilities to prove the fairness of the applicant’s dismissal,” stated the ruling.
Molapo ordered the department to reinstate Mathithibala on the same conditions as they applied before August 2022, and that he must resume his normal duties on 25 July and be paid his salary for 22 months, which is about R980 000, plus interest.
IOL article – Male nurse reinstated, to be paid R1m after rape accusations (Open access)
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