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Cape Town - SABC spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago has told News24 he expects to see Hlaudi Motsoeneng back at work on Friday, despite the Western Cape High Court upholding its ruling that the SABC COO be suspended.
“Yes, I expect him to see him at work,” Kganyago told News24 on Friday.
“I don’t see why he shouldn’t be at work because the matter is now pending. The appeal was launched yesterday [Thursday].”
An interim application for Motsoeneng’s suspension was upheld by Judge Ashton Schippers in Cape Town on Thursday, which stated that the SABC chief should be suspended temporarily with immediate effect pending the implementation of a disciplinary hearing.
Leave to appeal
Schippers’ ruling, however, granted Motsoeneng leave to appeal the order to the Supreme Court in Bloemfontein, an option Motsoeneng’s camp followed on immediately.
Motsoeneng’s lawyer, Zola Majavu, told eNCA on Friday that an appeal was indeed launched immediately after the ruling, and thus the matter of his suspension is now pending.
Majavu stressed that the high court order stipulated that the SABC institute disciplinary proceedings against Motsoeneng within 14 days of the court's ruling. Those proceedings must then be completed within 60 days.
But, the lawyer stated, Motsoeneng needs to be charged by his employer first before for the ruling takes effect.
Both the SABC and Motsoeneng have appealed the ruling.
Exceptional case
Judge Schippers himself acknowledged the exceptional nature of the case in his final judgment on Thursday.
“I have come to the conclusion that the circumstances of this case are out of the ordinary and thus exceptional, and that the order should be implemented in the public interest," Schippers judgment read.
"This is no ordinary case. It involves the national broadcaster. It is a public institution owned and controlled by South Africans, and performing duties to the public."
Public Protector's powers
The DA had brought the application for an interim order to have Motsoeneng suspended last year, as ordered by Public Protector Thuli Madonsela's February report.
Despite Madonsela's finding, Motsoeneng had remained in his job at the public broadcaster.
DA MP James Selfe told News24 outside the court on Thursday that the party was happy with the ruling.
“We feel vindicated not so much because of the circumstances around Mr Motsoeneng, but more because of the crucially important role that remedial findings by the Public Protector play in enforcing good governance in South Africa,” he told reporters.
In order for the public protector’s findings to have the force of law, Selfe continued, it needed to be brought to a court, and for the court to make an order.
"The judgment goes to the heart of the public protector's remedial actions in affairs of the State,” he said.
The DA also had costs awarded to the party.
In the interim, the party is now in the process of filing a review application to question Motsoeneng's initial appointment at the broadcaster, Selfe told News24.
