Alfred Moselakgomo

Alfred Moselakgomo

Embattled Mbombela municipal manager Jacob Dladla feels his suspension is motivated by "ulterior motives".

Dladla is at the moment involved in a dispute over his suspension.

This was after the municipality converted his forced leave to a three months' suspension.

The Johannesburg labour court rejected his attempt to have his suspension set aside. It dismissed his action with costs estimated at R100000.

In his court papers, Dladla claimed that attempts were, and had still continued to be made by some people within the council and municipality, to get rid of him for ulterior purposes.

He said an investigation, which resulted in his suspension, was initiated with the help of an outside law firm.

Dladla claimed this was unlawful as the right procedure was not followed when appointing the firm to conduct an "illegal" investigation against him.

"When the investigation was purportedly conducted, nobody contacted me or informed me of the investigation and the basis of the investigation," he said.

He said he only learnt about the release of the interim investigation report from the media.

"The next thing I was informed was that the so-called interim investigation report will be tabled in the council meeting on January 31."

He said his attorney wrote to the law firm Ngobe-Nkosi Attorneys, who had acted as both investigator and instructing attorneys for the council, arguing that he had not been given a chance to see the report.

"Ngobe-Nkosi confirmed in the letter that the discussion of the report by council was for information purposes only and that the final report would still be prepared," Dladla said.