Pretoria – Former head of the Hawks, Major-General Berning Ntlemeza, will have to wait a while longer before taking on Police Minister Fikile Mbalula in court, as his urgent application to interdict Mbalula was on Tuesday removed from the roll.
He is asking that the minister be interdicted from preventing him from entering the office of the National Head of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI) in Silverton, Pretoria.
Ntlemeza is also asking for an order interdicting Mbalula from interfering with his (Ntlemeza’s) “performance of official duties as the head of DPCI”.
He also wants the minister to be interdicted from making public statements which “embarrass, humiliate, degrade and undermine him and which subject him to contempt and ridicule.”
Ntlemeza further wants the minister to be ordered to return him his official vehicle and cellphone, as he said without these he cannot attend to his official meetings.
He wants the court to order that he remained as head of the Hawks, pending the outcome of appeal proceedings before the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein (SCA).
Ntlemeza maintained that no court had the jurisdiction to fire him.
The Ntlemeza camp was not ready to proceed on Tuesday and wanted the matter to stand down to Friday. Gauteng High Court, Pretoria Judge Bill Prinsloo, however, put his foot down.
He said the file was not in order – the papers were not paginated and the file indexed, as prescribed by the practice directives of this court.
The Ntlemeza camp then wanted it postponed to next Tuesday – May 16 – but the judge again refused. He said once the parties had its “ducks in a row” they can re-enroll the matter.
The judge also commented that Mbalula filed his answering affidavit outside the prescribed time frame. He removed it from the roll, without making a costs order.