Durban - A Durban metro policewoman, who was convicted of assaulting a motorist and named as the “chief bully”, still has her job because the municipality allegedly bungled the disciplinary process.
Last year Thulisile Zondi was found guilty of assaulting a Durban prosecutor, Nontobeko Biyela, in 2013 after she photographed the officer talking on her cellphone while driving.
She was sentenced to pay a fine of R24 000 or spend two years in prison for the assault. Half of the sentence was conditionally suspended for five years.
The Mercury has established that Zondi, 30, was dismissed after her conviction but was then reinstated after she lodged an appeal against her dismissal.
Zondi lodged the internal appeal on the grounds that she had appealed against her criminal conviction to the high court.
City spokeswoman Tozi Mthethwa confirmed that Zondi had been “reinstated pending the outcome of her appeal in the Pietermaritzburg High Court”.
The Mercury understands that Zondi lost her criminal appeal and the municipality was told of the court’s decision last December.
Mthethwa said the disciplinary process would start afresh because Zondi had lost the appeal.
Evidence in the trial was that Zondi, with a group of other officers, bullied, unlawfully arrested and then kicked Biyela who photographed her driving while using a cellphone. She allegedly accused Biyela of “trying to take my bread away from me” and threatened to “rearrange” her face.
Magistrate Garth Davis sentencing Zondi last year, described her – and her metro police colleagues who assaulted Biyela – as bullies, but he said Zondi was the chief bully.
Davis also commented that the officers appeared to “do as they please because they are the law”.
Zondi’s union, the SA Municipal Workers Union (Samwu), has threatened to challenge any further disciplinary action being taken against her, arguing that the matter was settled when she was reinstated.
Samwu’s eThekwini deputy secretary, Pretty Shange, said: “There is no way their member can be charged twice on the same count”.
“As far as we are concerned, the matter is settled,” she said.
Usually when there was a criminal case against an employee, the internal disciplinary processes were put on hold pending the finalisation of the case, including appeal proceedings.
“There has never been a situation where a member is reinstated pending a criminal case outcome. We’ll take the city to task on this,” she said.
The Mercury