CEO of RTMC, Adv Makhosini Msibi won his urgent application to lift his suspension following allegations of mismanagement.
Image: Masi Losi
Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) CEO Advocate Makhosini Msibi has won his urgent bid to have his precautionary suspension lifted.
Msibi turned to the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria to have his suspension declared unlawful as he claimed the Board did not have the authority to suspend him. He was placed on precautionary suspension in July last year following whistleblower allegations which included financial misconduct and government failures.
The Board, having received a number of whistleblower complaints, delivered a letter to Msibi in which it advised that he was being placed on precautionary suspension. Msibi was told that his suspension was with full pay, for an initial period of 30 days which could be extended to 60 days, or any further period "as may be reasonably necessary". Judge Jan Swanepoel pointed out that Msibi had been on suspension for almost eight months.
Msibi sought an order that his suspension be declared unlawful and that it be reviewed and set aside, and that the Board's decision to appoint an interim CEO be similarly reviewed and set aside. The main thrust of his case was that the Board did not have delegated powers to suspend him. In its answering affidavit the Board disclosed a “Board Charter” which, it says, authorised it to suspend him.
Msibi took the stance that the authority to establish a Board Charter had not been delegated to the Board. He subsequently asked the court to review and set aside the Charter. Msibi has, since he was suspended, sought confirmation that the power to suspend him had been delegated to the Board.
His main contention was that the Shareholders Committee solely held the power to suspend him, and that it had never delegated that power to the Board. The Board's attorneys did not agree with this and said it has acted squarely within its legal mandate and in full compliance with its internal governance framework.
The Board submitted that the Charter afforded it the authority to suspend Msibi. Judge Swanepoel commented that there is little doubt that it was the Board that suspended Msibi. He pointed to the letter of suspension, in which the Board said it has, through its chairperson, been informed by whistleblowers of allegations of misconduct which include fraud, corruption, and wasteful expenditure against Msibi and that it had decided to suspend him.
The judge pointed out that the structure of the RTMC is unlike other entities. It is controlled by the Shareholders Committee. The Board is bound to act within the confines of those powers specifically delegated to it by the Shareholders Committee. Judge Swanepoel did not agree with the Board’s argument that as the accounting authority for the RTMC, its responsibilities include the responsibility to take disciplinary steps against an employee who undermines the financial management and internal control systems of the entity, or who makes or permits fruitless or wasteful expenditure.
The judge found that the Shareholders Committee is the accounting authority and the Board thus did not have the powers to suspend Msibi. He could also not find that the Shareholders Committee had delegated its powers to the Board.
Cape Times