The woman who lost the Tshwane chief of emergency services job to Previn Govender has hauled the City of Tshwane to the Labour Court.

Joan de Beer, who had occupied the very same position in the past, said yesterday the city needed to explain why she was overlooked for someone who did not meet the job's qualifications.

This comes as the metro this week cleared Govender of any wrongdoing despite allegations that he misrepresented his qualifications.

"I can't talk much about the matter because I have a case before court against the municipality. We are heading to the court soon," De Beer said.

Her case is expected to be heard in Johannesburg next month.

"They [Tshwane] must answer on what has happened. If he was an internal candidate, it would have been accepted for him to be considered but he was an external candidate. I don't know how they can find him not to have done any wrong."

De Beer has 36 years of experience in the same department and qualifications which are an equivalent of an NQF Level 7, meeting the requirements for the chief of emergency services position.

She was the capital city's chief of emergency services between 2000 and 2017. She also has a variety of qualifications including a national diploma in nursing and midwifery, certificates in basic fire-fighting, rescue, paramedics and aviation medicine.

She said Govender had no medical qualifications and was not registered by any of the health professionals' bodies or council as required by the Health Act.

Despite strong evidence showing that Govender has misled the city by misrepresenting his qualifications, the council jumped to his defence on Monday, clearing him of any wrongdoing.

"The conclusion by the city in the finalisation of this matter is that the chief of emergency services, based on all investigations done and inquiries made, does possess the required qualification for the position. The internal investigation confirmed there was no evidence that Mr Govender misrepresented his qualifications and therefore committed no fraud," the city said.

Govender declined to comment yesterday and referred all questions to the city manager.

Sowetan reported in August last year that Govender had stated in his CV that he possesses a qualification that was an equivalent to an NQF Level 7, but this was found not to be true. The SA Qualification Authority disputed this, saying the Saesi diploma was not an NQF-registered qualification and therefore could not be assigned an NQF level.

The decision of the city to appoint Govender was flagged by the auditor-general (AG) in his 2017/2018 financial year report. The AG found that Govender should not have been short-listed for the job as he did not meet the requirements.

ANC regional chairperson Kgosi Maepa has also questioned the basis the city used to find that Govender had not done anything wrong.