Durban - KwaZulu-Natal Transport MEC Willies Mchunu is facing a charge of contempt of court for ignoring a Durban Labour Court order handed down five months ago setting aside the appointment of a junior and inexperienced employee in a senior provincial traffic officer’s post and directing that the job be readvertised.
Judge Hamilton Cele put the MEC on terms last month to appear in court last Friday to explain why he should not be found guilty of contempt of court.
Although an affidavit had been filed saying the job had not been readvertised “because the post no longer exists”, on Friday Judge David Gush insisted that Mchunu come to court personally on May 22 to further explain why the order had been ignored.
The dispute over the Midway, Ladysmith, post dates back to 2008 after the appointment of one N Thafeni – the only candidate out of 19 applicants to be short-listed and interviewed.
She scored 50% in her interview test, had only worked as a metro police constable in Cape Town for two and a half years and did not have any supervisory experience, as the post dictated.
Two unsuccessful applicants, Veerash Shewnarain and Rogers Harilal – who claimed they had been barred because of their race – lodged an unfair labour practice dispute and, in February 2011, an arbitrator ruled in their favour, saying Thafeni did not have the requisite experience for the job.
The MEC sought to review this ruling and approached the Durban Labour Court. In November last year, Judge Robert Lagrange ruled that he could find no rational reason why Thafeni had been employed and said the filling of the post had to be reconsidered.
Commenting that it was “regrettable” that the matter had dragged on for so many years, he also ordered that the auditor-general investigate whether Thafeni’s employment, subsequent earnings and the legal fees to contest the challenge could be regarded as “fruitless and wasteful expenditure”.
Attorney Bruce Macgregor, who is acting for Shewnarain, Harilal and the Public Servants Association, told The Mercury that the department had done nothing to comply with the arbitration and court ruling.
“This is a ridiculous situation. Court orders should be respected and complied with. What’s the point of all this litigation, when an employer, in this instance the state, appears unwilling to comply.
“The fact that the department, by its non-compliance with the court order, expects the citizens of KZN to live with a situation where an unqualified (for the post) and inexperienced person can be appointed to senior law enforcement positions, is worrying,” he said.
The Mercury