A military doctor, Colonel Iqram Bux, who was unexpectedly demoted and transferred, is having his case heard in the Labour Court after a long-running dispute, and asking for a year’s compensation, but not reinstatement.
Bux said that after overseeing more than 500 staff at 2 Military Hospital in Wynberg in the Cape, he was suddenly demoted to a post in a different province.
The matter is being heard in the Labour Court because of a ruling by a previous judge that the SANDF is not exempt from the Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA) – offering a rare glimpse into a labour dispute in the military, reports News24.
Members of the National Intelligence Agency, the South African Secret Service and the South African National Academy of Intelligence are exempt from having their matters dealt with in terms of the BCEA.
Bux’s dispute related to having his overtime slashed, his pay docked to recover an apparent incorrect salary increase by head office, and his performance bonuses not being paid, even though he had reached the threshold.
In 2018, the Labour Court ordered the SANDF to stop deducting money from his salary, which it had argued it was entitled to after claiming he had been improperly graded.
When he was told to report to the Institute for Aviation Medicine in Pretoria in 2018, with a staff of just 30, it was the last straw.
He regarded it as a demotion from his previous job of heading a staff of around 500, which oversaw the provision of military health services in the Western Cape.
On 1 May 2018, he tendered his resignation, which was accepted “with regret”. In it, he gave his reasons for leaving and he now alleges unfair labour practices and constructive dismissal.
His application is against the Minister of Defence, the Secretary of Defence, the SANDF and the Defence Department.
Their counsel, Marion Botma, denied the allegations and the claims, saying Bux actually disobeyed his seniors by refusing to go to Pretoria, and then resigned. She said a direct order “was simply ignored by the applicant”. Botma said he was supposed to have reported for his new position on 1 May 2018, but chose that day to resign.
She said his overtime hours were eventually reinstated, albeit not at the previous 16 hours a week, but at eight hours a week.
But Bux’s colleague and subordinate, Dr Riaz Ismail, testified that the two suddenly found themselves subjected to unwarranted hostility in April 2018, with the arrival of a captain who announced he had been sent to take over from Bux.
Ismail testified he had been told he was being transferred to the Institute for Maritime Medicine in Simonstown, and a disabled junior doctor who worked with him also found herself at risk of being moved suddenly.
Ranked as a lieutenant-colonel, Ismail said he had enjoyed a close working relationship with Bux.
Bux was not only responsible for the finances and strategy of the hospital, but had the authority to decide on how referrals throughout the Western Cape for military health services for around 60 000 people were managed.
For a car accident in Knysna, for example, Bux had the authority to decide whether a road or air ambulance service was required and, if so, what type of ambulance or aircraft.
Bux said their overtime of 16 hours a week required them to be on call for any consultations with nurses, doctors or interns, and for referrals for “superspecialisms”, like cardiac arrest or neonatal cases.
If there were a chief of army or navy or a Minister or head of state at 2 Mil, Ismail and Bux were expected to be present at the hospital. But, unlike Bux, Ismail said his overtime was not cut.
He described Bux as the kind of colonel everyone went to for advice, so he was shocked when Bux was told to go to Pretoria to oversee the Institute of Aviation Medicine.
Ismail testified that he became sidelined and, on 12 July, a captain and a lieutenant-colonel accused him of misappropriating two CCTV monitors.
Voices were raised during the accusations, and Bux came out of his office to see what was happening, and intervened.
The other two officers left, but that afternoon, Bux told Ismail he had been sent an SMS to stay at home and not report for work.
The matter continues.
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
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SANDF’s military hospitals now ‘in intensive care’
SA Military Health Service in not well, SANDF says
1 Military Hospital: Top officials liable for R156m in irregular expenditure