Johannesburg - A highly decorated government official with vast experience in media and communications who was dismissed last year from his high-grossing position has been vindicated by the courts, that said his axing was unlawful and ruled in favour of his reinstatement.
The Labour Court sitting in Cape Town found no compelling argument to stop the senior civil servant from returning to work.
To that end, he has written a stinging letter to his employer, warning it of his intention to return to work today.
Mzukisi Lubabalo Ndara fought relentlessly to be back in his position.
At work, Ndara served as head of office in the office of Deputy Minister Nkosi Phathekile Holomisa at the then-Department of Labour from 2014 until 2019, when he moved with his principal to the Ministry of Justice and Correctional Services.
Holomisa is the Deputy Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, responsible for Correctional Services.
The outspoken Ndara did not make many friends in the high echelons of Correctional Services, including ruffling the feathers of the former national commissioner Arthur Fraser.
In his letter to Correctional Services announcing his impending return to the office, Ndara says: “This serves to advise that I shall report for duty tomorrow, on Monday, February 27, 2023, in my capacity as a Director in the office of the Deputy Minister.”
Ndara added: “Subsequent to the appeal by the department – deemed to have been withdrawn on September 21, 2022, invariably the principal order by Judge Hilary Rabkin-Naicker on April 29, 2022, is no longer suspended. This is in spite of the spirited and strongly worded correspondence from state attorney, Ms C Bailey, to the contrary, suggesting that presenting myself for duty would lead to my arrest for trespassing. These sentiments by Ms Bailey have been reiterated in a recent letter dated February 2, 2023, to Ximbi Ncolo Incorporated Attorneys in defence of a writ that has been issued against the department by the Registrar of the Labour Court in line with the aforementioned judgement.
“This chain of events prompted a deep reflection and further consultation with my counsel and two senior counsel - the last consultation having taken place on February 17, 2023. All of them independently emphasised that I have a judgment in my favour that ought to be respected and implemented forthwith by the department. The application for condonation and reinstatement of the appeal is simply that - an application. It has no bearing on a judgment that is now revived and executable.”
Ndara has been involved in a protracted battle of wits with his employer and has often thrown the book at his bosses, who have fluffed every rule in the book just to get rid of him to no avail.
“In my 17-year career in the public service, I had an unblemished record,” he had said in an earlier interview with this reporter. “No warning against me, whether written or oral; no disciplinary hearing was ever held against me. So to be summarily dismissed like that was the highest insult to my integrity.”
But that notwithstanding, his employer just had to find an excuse to show him the door - a move the courts could not allow.
At some point, the tiff with Correctional Services forced him to seek psychological help, whereupon his medical certificate was queried by the employer.
In his fight to get back behind his desk, Ndara has even employed the help of a civil society group, the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa).
Wayne Duvenage of Outa took up cudgels on behalf of Ndara and wrote the following excerpt from a letter to Correctional Services: “With the benefit of the judgment penned by Justice Hilary Rabkin-Naicker on April 29, 2022, it appears Mr Ndara was not afforded an opportunity to be heard before he was summarily dismissed in a letter authored by the National Commissioner, Mr Makgothi Thobakgale, ostensibly at your instance. This is clearly of grave concern to us.
“With the greatest of respect, we hold a firm view that it would be in your interest as a ministry and your department to find a solution to this matter outside of court, as opposed to a lawfare strategy that we believe is a waste of taxpayers' money. If the Labour Appeal Court were to confirm the decision of the court a quo, the outcome against the department would not be favourable, made worse by the fact the department is using the public purse against an individual who is highly qualified and has served government with devotion for close to two decades.”
In his response to whether the department was aware of Ndara’s determination to return to work and whether they had made any arrangements to accommodate him, Singabakho Nxumalo, spokesperson for Correctional Services, said: “Kindly note that Mr Ndara remains dismissed as the Department is appealing the court judgment. It is also prudent to correct that Mr Ndara is not a special advisor to the Deputy Minister.”
The Star