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The ongoing battle for the political control of the Mogalakwena Municipality in Mokopane took an interesting twist this week when the mayor lashed out at a representative from the local sheriffs office when he delivered a court order during a special executive committee meeting.
Sources who attended the meeting told Northern News that the mayor, Esther Mothibi, and her close ally, Sam Montane, hurled verbal abuse at the sheriff yelling at him to “voetsek!” and “f**k-off!”
While the Sheriff's office declined to comment on the incident or the contents of the court order, another source told Northern News that the sheriff left the meeting and returned with the municipal manager and then served the court papers on the mayor.
The Sowetan this week reported that the municipality faces legal action over the re-instatement of corporate services manager, Henry Thobejane, who has been found guilty on 26 charges ranging from fraud, theft, gross dishonesty, dereliction of duties, unofficial removal of official documents to destroying official information, financial misconduct and failure to carry out lawful instructions.
The papers filed with the court by Mahwelereng civic leader Piet Pale show that the ANC in the Waterberg region wrote to mayor Esther Mothibi, instructing her to convene a special council meeting to reverse the disciplinary hearing’s findings and re-instate Thobejane.
Pale seeks an order to set aside the resolution by the council to re-instate Thobejane because “it fails to pass the test of rationality and reasonableness”, the Sowetan reported.
A year ago, Thobejane was suspended with full salary benefits and later charged, but the disciplinary hearing was delayed for several months as Thobejane approached the Labour Court to set aside the municipality’s decision to charge him. The Labour Court dismissed his application with costs.
The hearing, chaired by Advocate AP Laka, then heard his case, which subsequently found him guilty on all 26 charges and recommended that he be dismissed with immediate effect.
A month later, the ANC instructed the mayor to disregard a “directive” and that Thobejane’s suspension be lifted unconditionally and that disciplinary processes against him be stopped.
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