Labour Court halts disciplinary action against whistleblower engineer.
A senior engineer claiming to be a whistleblower won an interim court order stopping a disciplinary hearing against him after the Labour Court in Johannesburg found he made a prima facie case that the charges against him may be linked to protected disclosures he made about alleged irregularities in the North West Department of Public Works and Roads.
The judgment, delivered by Judge Tapiwa Cecilia Gandidze followed an urgent application brought by Tebogo Jonker who approached the court after being served with a disciplinary notice in January 2026 on charges that included making defamatory allegations against the Head of Department (HoD).
Jonker consistently maintained that the charges were a retaliation mechanism arising from protected disclosures he made regarding alleged corruption and commercial irregularities within the department.
The roots of the dispute trace back to September 2022, shortly after the HoD appointment. According to court papers, Jonker alleged that the HoD instructed him to allegedly alter technical reports to facilitate state business with Reakgona Petroleum, a diesel supply company run by a personal friend of the HoD.
