Non-story of the day: Civil servant goes on approved leave

So today’s non-story? Judge Hlophe going on extended paid leave.

Now Hlophe is rivalled only by JZ, Julius Malema and probably Schabir Shaik in terms of circulation-boosting value. A story about his bathroom habits would guarantee thousands of hits on your news site. But once again, I fear we are yet again, being herded, lemming like into some sort of unjustified hysteric reaction to a non-story.

The nub of the story is that Judge Hlophe is being granted extended leave on top of the ministerially ordered leave of absence he has been on for most of the last two years. To be honest, I can see how your average (non) working Joe can feel aggrieved at this apparent unfairness.

But we need to get a few things in perspective:

1. All SA workers are entitled to a certain amount of paid leave per annum, judges included. obviously this varies according to one’s terms of employment.

2. Judge Hlophe is not entitled to any more unearned leave than other judges and (I am open to being corrected here) is not going on some sort of AWOL jol in the sun.

3. The special leave was imposed on him from above while he had very serious allegations to answer. Now of course if he had somehow brought the allegations on himself in an elaborate ploy to get time off from work while being all over the news, then he should be disciplined for it promptly and harshly.

4. His salary is line with the same guidelines that govern other judges’ pay. Ditto the special bonus he got for 15 years service.

5. R1.5 million per annum seems like a lot of money true. But consider how much a person with a judge’s experience, contacts and qualifications would earn in the private sector and you’ll quickly understand that what judges get paid is at most, about par.

Now of course this is the kind of perspective that does not sell newspapers or generate online traffic and one could argue that it is up to the public to arm themselves with the relevant facts and not rely on being spoon-fed by journos with deadlines to meet, but it is high time we stopped being driven by rabble-rousing non-news. this kind of drivel only serves to create undeserving martyrs and further separate South Africans through their relative political affiliations.

As for Judge Hlophe’s run-ins with the law — those are well-documented (from both sides) but the fact remains that while still in his job, he is entitled to the same rights and privileges of employment that the rest of us are also entitled to.

Now if the “problem” is that the rules allow this to happen, then let’s look at changing the rules — in the same way we should for the notorious Ministerial Handbook. I am sure we could all unite behind a cause that seeks to ensure that taxpayers get their money’s worth from civil servants.