The appointment of Morris Maluleke as the municipal manager of Mogalakwena local municipality has been declared unlawful by the Limpopo high court.

Judge Geritt Muller delivered the judgment on Tuesday

after a group of residents made two separate applications to have his appointment set aside.

The judgment comes just 13 days after Maluleke started work in the municipality in Mokopane.

Muller said the selection panel that had shortlisted and interviewed candidates was not appointed according to council rules, meaning Maluleke had occupied the position unlawfully.

He said the screening, shortlisting and interviews conducted by the panel had been tainted due to a failure by council to comply with the rules.  

“I’m of the view that the process in the appointment of the 7th Respondent (Maluleke) was tainted to the extent that it is unlawful and should be set aside,” he said.

Regulation 12.3 of council rules on the appointment of senior managers states that the selection panel must constitute of at least three individuals including the mayor who will be chairperson, a counsellor designated by council and a third individual who is not a member of council.

According to regulations, panel members must be appointed through a resolution of council.

But Muller said council had only appointed Mogalakwena mayor Ngoako Taueatsoala as chairperson of the selection panel but had failed to appoint the two other people.

Muller said it appeared that an unknown person had taken charge of appointing the two individuals who were on the panel with Taueatsoala.

Sowetan had previously reported that residents Ephraim Mokoma and Samuel Sekgota, along with about 250 others, had approached the court asking for his appointment to be declared illegal.

Mokoma wanted the court to make the ruling based on a council meeting that was held on August 8 where Maluleke was officially appointed.

He wanted that meeting to be declared illegal on the basis that it had been postponed by speaker Pheladi Olifant.

But the court dismissed Mokoma’s application, saying that the absence of the speaker did not make the meeting illegal.

Instead, Maluleke’s appointment was set aside on the basis of the application made by Sekgota, who challenged the legality of his appointment by arguing that the selection panel was not properly appointed.

Muller also mentioned other requests made by other parties in the case, including counter applications, to have certain documents presented as evidence to be declared inadmissible.

The court found that the residents had the right to bring transcripts of council meetings as evidence as these were public documents, but said a forensic report on alleged VBS Mutual Bank dealings which mentioned Maluleke was irrelevant to the case.

mahopoz@sowetan.co.za