Whistle-blower wins first round in battle against Parliament

Charlton has consistently insisted that he was dismissed and persecuted as a member of the parliamentary staff for blowing the whistle on MPs guilty of stealing about R20m of taxpayers’ money in the Travelgate scandal, says Business Day. Secretary to Parliament, Zingile Dingani, has said that Charlton was fired for financial mismanagement. Effectively, the ruling means that Charlton’s legal challenge to his dismissal holds and will be tested on the evidence. So far more than 20 MPs have admitted guilt in the scandal and are paying substantial fines. They remain MPs. Charlton has taken Parliament to court, contesting his dismissal was ‘automatically unfair’. Parliament opposed Charlton\'s action on the basis that the Labour Relations Act and the Protected Disclosures Act (PDA) did not apply to him. Acting Labour Court Judge Mzo Ngcamu this week ruled that it would be a national embarrassment if Charlton was found to be unprotected by whistle-blower laws. Ngcamu said it did not make any sense for Parliament to make laws that protected whistle-blowers and then have those laws not apply to MPs who were guilty of criminal activities. Full Business Day report