R2K Whistleblowers 2014: Mojalefa Murphy
“My family and I will never rest until the truth is out in the open.”
Senior physicist, Mojalefa Murphy says he was forced to resign over 12 years ago from the National Research Foundation (NRF) in retaliation for investigating a colleague for financial mismanagement at iThemba LABS, where Murphy was acting director. In his struggle to clear his name, he has been denied access to documents and is now seeking an appeal in Court.
Murphy, who was once one of South Africa’s foremost black nuclear physicists, tells his story in his own words:
“My struggle started some 12 years ago with my refusal to given in to enormous pressure from my superiors at the National Research Foundation (NRF) to let a fellow senior management colleague, whom I was investigating for gross wrong doing, off the hook. My legitimate disclosure of the apparent bending of rules by my superiors to the overseeing Department of Science and Technology (DST) when I sought protection from the NRF’s retaliatory assault on my career, only served to compound my struggle.”
After being forced to resign from the NRF, Murphy was interrogated by investigators from DeLoittes about the alleged mismanagement at iThemba LABS.
“In these investigations, my consent for the scrutiny of my wife’s and my bank accounts was sought. Despite my cooperation with these independent investigators and the fact that my senior colleagues were furnished with their findings and reports for use in clearing their names, the NRF denied me access to them.”
Like many whistleblowers, Mojalefa faced the challenge of clearing his name in order to seek further employment. He was shut out of the job market in South Africa, and so sought employment abroad, but was constantly denied access to the investigation reports needed to clear his name.
“I remained unemployable not only in the career of my choice but also at any meaningful and gainful level of any occupation that is commensurate with my education and experience.”
Through Mojalefa’s struggle he has found his case and investigation documents being completely mismanaged, undermining the very founding principles of South Africa as democracy, namely transparency and accountability in the administration of public affairs.
“You will know from the cases such as that of Mike Tshishonga that in South Africa, any apparent challenge of the moral and ethical conduct of the politically powerful and their contacts is met with a hostility and exclusion from earning a livelihood in a country in which government and the public sector is the dominant employer and buyer of private services and goods.” – Mojalefa Murphy, November 2013.
Mojalefa Murphy is featured in R2K’s 2014 Whistleblower Calendar. Find out more.
