We will not participate in Parliament's revetting of staff - Nehawu

National Education, Health and Allied Workers affiliated workers will not participate in Parliament's revetting process until the union is consulted on the reasons behind it.

This is according to branch chairperson Sthembiso Tembe, who on Wednesday said some of the questions their members were subjected to were too personal and had nothing to do with work.

"We do not have the psychologists to deal with some of the questions asked of our members."

In October, Parliament announced that it would be launching a programme to revet and determine the security competence of its officials.

Since then, workers have been complaining about the process, and the reasons behind it, some calling it a witch-hunt.

Tembe said revetting was introduced to Parliament without the union being consulted.

This, he said, was another example of how the union was undermined by Parliament secretary Gengezi Mgidlana.

"You cannot introduce something without consulting the workers. Especially something that will impact on the rights of the workers."

He said the questions were very random.

"For instance, how did your father die? Do you live with a concubine? Things that have nothing to do with security clearance. But we also don’t see any need for this vetting process."

Tembe said they had nothing against vetting, if it was to root out corruption and fraud and if it was to promote good governance.

Though some Nehawu members had already been subjected to the revetting, they would not take the results seriously, he said.

On Monday, Parliament rejected media reports that the revetting process was an attempt to intimidate staff.

"Vetting is a mandatory and standard government practice that aims to ascertain the suitability of candidates and employees in government and to verify personal information," it said in a statement.

Source News 24