Sol Plaatje gets a bloody nose in court over municipal manager fiasco

SOL PLAATJE municipal manager Thapelo Matlala will be allowed to return to work with immediate effect after the Northern Cape High Court found that his suspension on January 8 was unlawful.

After judgment was delivered on Friday, January 16, Matlala – smiling outside court – said it would not be the last attempt to obstruct his return to the municipality.

“I will come back to court if they try again – they will keep on paying. I’m going back to work. This nonsense must stop,” he said.

Matlala was placed on precautionary suspension on September 16 last year and was served with charges on December 28, including misconduct, bringing the municipality into disrepute and dereliction of duties.

He returned to work on January 5, but was suspended again on January 8.

Mayor and Speaker personally liable for legal costs

Northern Cape High Court Acting judge Tyuthuza ordered that Sol Plaatje executive mayor Martha Bartlett and Speaker Dipuo Peters pay the legal costs of the urgent application in their personal capacity. 

She found the suspension “null and void” and ordered that Matlala be permitted to return as municipal manager. 

Process ‘laughable’ and ‘a witch-hunt’

Matlala’s legal representative, Advocate Johann Olivier, argued that both the disciplinary hearing and suspension were irregular because municipal regulations were not followed.

“The whole process is laughable and the steps to suspend him amount to a witch-hunt calculated at keeping him away from office. Council failed to follow their own regulations,” he said.

He pointed out that the urgent interdict against Matlala was withdrawn on January 12, and argued that council was not permitted to extend the precautionary suspension that was implemented on September 16.

“You cannot rectify an invalid suspension. The various objections made during the special council meeting were simply ignored and the motion was passed after it was seconded, without a voting process. The Speaker’s decision to suspend Matlala was irregular and relied on an agenda. No resolution exists to implement the suspension,” Olivier argued.

He added that Matlala was not given an opportunity to make written representations on why he should not be suspended, as required by the regulations.

Matlala maintained that his suspension was motivated by an intention to continue his disciplinary hearing in his absence.

“There is not a shred of evidence to demonstrate that my presence will compromise employee safety, service delivery, or cause any instability at the municipality … it amounts to a desperate attempt to justify the unlawful suspension.”

Municipality ‘thrown into disarray’

The municipality argued that Matlala should approach appropriate labour forums such as the bargaining council and the Labour Court, instead of the Northern Cape High Court.

In court papers, Bartlett stated that she was obliged to intervene to safeguard the integrity of the municipality when a senior official allegedly threatened the safety of employees with armed security, disrupted the administration, or undermined public confidence.

She indicated that the municipality was made “ungovernable” when Matlala reported for work on January 5.

Bartlett said the suspension was implemented to prevent interference with witnesses and evidence in the disciplinary process, citing Matlala’s alleged “confrontational and intimidating conduct” when he returned to work.

She stated that both the Speaker and councillor Elizabeth Johnson were threatened by Matlala.

She pointed out that Matlala was facing serious charges of misconduct, including allegations of corruption, financial impropriety and the abuse of municipal processes.

“The suspension was lawful, procedural and protective in nature. It was not punitive and was imposed solely to safeguard the investigation, witnesses and institutional stability.”

Advocate Simon Kunene represented the municipality, mayor and Speaker, on instruction of Kopano Mothibi Attorneys, who indicated that the disciplinary hearing would continue in March.

Money being wasted on ‘political battles’

Herbert Miller, from the Justice4All project, said money was being wasted on legal battles.

“This is while services and the community are suffering. Council needs to account for why processes were not followed and why the disciplinary process was stalled. We want a proper investigation, and officials need to act in the best interests of the community instead of their political affiliations while illegal things are happening. Council is leaderless,” he said.

DA councillor Chris Phiri said the mayor and Speaker “wilfully misled council”, while council processes were “brazenly flouted”, and that the suspension of the municipal manager was “legally flawed”.

“It is a pity that councillors who voted in favour of the chaos have not also been brought to book. Their determination to pursue party political aspirations over and above service delivery for residents of Sol Plaatje enabled this saga to occur,” he said.

Sol Plaatje Service Delivery Forum councillor Dennis Pienaar said he would submit a motion that the Speaker and mayor be charged for flouting council procedures at the next council meeting.

“Justice has prevailed. We are also considering challenging the secondment of the acting municipal manager as being irregular,” he said.

He alleged that R1.2 million from the Budget Facility for Infrastructure had been misappropriated during Matlala’s absence.

EFF councillor Pontsho Mocwana criticised what she called a “blatant disregard” for council regulations.

“We did warn the mayor and Speaker but they did not want to listen. We will support any motion that they should be disciplined. No reasons were provided why the interdict against Matlala was withdrawn,” she said.

GOOD Party councillor Rachel Wapad voiced her support for a motion against the mayor and Speaker.

“I have reported one of our councillors to the national office as she went against a party decision to support Matlala,” she said.

The chairperson of the Northern Cape Civics Organisation, Ross Henderson, said many investigations into alleged malfeasance at Sol Plaatje Municipality had “dissipated into thin air”.

“Politicians must stop meddling in administrative issues. Our country is in a mess because politicians are eager to stick their noses into matters that they have no mandate to be involved in,” he said.

He advised against the matter being taken on appeal.

“Officials should take responsibility for their ill-advised actions. The municipality will be in contravention of the Municipal Finance Management Act should it pay for the legal costs of ill-advised politicians,” Henderson added.