Pretoria - Suspended, fired, reinstated and suspended again – and now there is a prospect of him returning to work.
The chronicles of former City of Tshwane chief financial officer, Andile Dyakala, are starting to read like a script movie writers would be thrilled with.
Labour Court Judge Annelie Basson, who earlier this year ordered Dyakala’s reinstatement, on Tuesday dismissed with costs the city’s application for leave to appeal against that decision.
Dyakala was suspended in June last year for alleged irregularities related to a municipal printing tender. More charges of violating the conditions of his initial suspension – bringing the city into disrepute by making defamatory statements on Facebook and allegedly intimidating potential witnesses – were added.
Following a lengthy disciplinary process and almost eight months later, Dyakala was fired from his R160 000 a month job at the helm of the city’s finances. Umar Banda has been acting as chief financial officer since Dyakala’s troubles with the municipality began a year ago.
In March, Judge Basson ordered Dyakala’s reinstatement with immediate effect, but he couldn’t return to work as the city filed for leave to appeal and requested that he not report for duty until the matter had been finalised.
Before long, the matter was back in front of Judge Basson, who stood by her earlier judgment. In the latest episode, Judge Basson said having considered the appeal, she was not persuaded that the court erred.
“The applicant was entitled to reject the breach of contract and sue for specific performance in terms of the contract of employment,” Judge Basson said.
“Furthermore, the applicant chose to follow a disciplinary inquiry to deal with issues of misconduct against the respondent. This inquiry included allegations regarding the posting of certain comments on Facebook.”
But the applicant had in the middle of the inquiry abandoned the process and sought to exercise its contractual rights, the judge said. “The applicant is bound by the election which it has made. I am not persuaded that there is a prospect that another court might come to a conclusion different to that reached in this court.
“The allegation that there was an alleged breakdown in the trust relationship is clearly premised on the Facebook postings. The respondent has been charged and called to account for such at the disciplinary tribunal. The ruling of the court was simply to retain the status quo pending the outcome of the disciplinary inquiry,” the judge said.
She added that a court would grant leave to appeal in circumstances where there were reasonable prospects of success.
However, for the application to be successful, there had to be a reasonable possibility that another court may come to a different conclusion. “I am not persuaded that the applicant has reasonable prospect of success on appeal. The application is dismissed with costs, including the costs occasioned by the appointment of two counsel.”
Dyakala’s lawyer, Luvuyo Qina, said his client would wait to for the city’s “next episode”, adding he was ready to return to work.
City spokesman Selby Bokaba said they would study the judgment before determining the new storyline.
Pretoria News