Suspended national police commissioner General Fannie Masemola could be found in contempt of court for the SA Police Service's failure to reinstate the Hawks’ Western Cape head Major-General Nombuso Khoza as ordered by the Labour Court in Cape Town.
Image: Oupa Mokoena / Independent Newspapers
Suspended national police commissioner General Fannie Masemola could face jail time due to the SA Police Service’s (SAPS) failure to reinstate the Hawks’ Western Cape head Major-General Nombuso Khoza in violation of a court order.
Khoza, a former senior prosecutor, has been battling her bosses since being fired in 2021 after being accused of dishonesty and breaching security.
Two years later, in 2023, and represented by the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru), she secured a Safety and Security Sectoral Bargaining Council (SSSBC) ruling declaring her dismissal unfair and ordered retrospective reinstatement with back pay of nearly R1.9 million.
However, SAPS challenged the SSSBC’s award at the Labour Court in Cape Town, where the police sought to have Khoza’s five-year contract declared to have terminated by operation of law at the end of January this year.
The police also told the court that Khoza’s contract should be declared inconsistent with the SAPS Act and therefore invalid, alternatively, that it was a fixed-term appointment until the end of January.
In October last year, Khoza and her bosses reached an agreement, which was made an order of the court.
According to the order, SAPS were directed to reinstate her, pay her retrospective remuneration for the period September 2021 to September 2025 and that she must report for duty at the premises of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks).
SAPS was also directed to ensure that Khoza suffers no prejudice in respect of her pensionable service and benefits under the Government Employees Pension Fund.
The court also stated that in the event of non- compliance with any term of its order, Khoza was granted leave to re-enrol a contempt of court application on the same papers, duly supplemented where necessary, on an expedited basis.
In court, Masemola claimed he agreed to the order due to fear of non-compliance with an earlier ruling but the Labour Court found that this did not shield him.
“It is simply not permissible for a party to consent to a court order due to fear of non-compliance of a previous order and then, thereafter, attempt to dispute the court order because the SAPS was not the employer. If that was the case, the issue ought to have been raised with the court. It was never raised,” stated Acting Judge Coen de Kock this week.
De Kock added: “The validity of the applicant’s (Khoza’s) contract was not disputed, leading to the order being granted, nor was there any issue raised by or on behalf of the respondents (SAPS and Masemola) that the wrong employer was cited”.
The acting Judge said between October and March this year, when Khoza’s contempt application came before the court, SAPS and Masemola never applied for the variation or rescission of the October order or file an application for leave to appeal.
Instead, the SAPS and Masemola applied to join the national head of the Hawks, a position which was held by Lieutenant-General Dumisani Patrick Mbotho in an acting capacity at the time of deposing the affidavit in March.
He described the move as a belated attempt for which the court found there was no justifiable reason and therefore could not succeed.
Khoza’s application to hold Masemola in contempt of court will now be heard next month after the SAPS and the top cop failed in their bid to join the national Hawks boss and have her contract declared invalid and unlawful was dismissed.
Popcru in the Western Cape did not respond to questions on Saturday while Masemola could not be reached for comment.
Masemola appeared before the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court to face four charges of contravening the Public Finance Management Act in relation to the R228 million contract awarded to controversial attempted murder accused businessman Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala’s company Medicare24 Tshwane District.
Masemola and Matlala join 15 others, including high-ranking police officers, who face corruption, fraud and money laundering charges, and they are expected back in court on June 26.
President Cyril Ramaphosa placed Masemola on precautionary suspension last month pending the conclusion of the case and appointed divisional commissioner for financial management services Lieutenant-General Puleng Dimpane as the acting top cop.
Cape Times