Mkhwebane 'vindicated' after court dismisses former COO case
Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane says she feels vindicated after the high court in Pretoria dismissed an application by her former Chief Operations Officer (COO) Basani Baloyi.
The high court on Thursday dismissed an application against Mkhwebane by her former COO Baloyi to be reinstated.
Mkhwebane fired Baloyi in October in what the former COO claimed was a purge by the public protector's office after she raised concerns about how certain investigations were conducted.
Handing down the ruling, Judge Mmonoa Teffo said the court did not have jurisdiction to hear the matter.
"What is, in essence, a labour dispute as envisaged in the Labour Relations Act should not be labelled a violation of the constitutional rights in the Bill of Rights, simply because the issues raised could also support a conclusion that the conduct of the employer constitutes a violations of a right entrenched in the Constitution.”
Mkhwebane's spokesperson Oupa Segalwe says had the court found there were merit to the claims, it would not have dismissed the matter.
"The fact that the court dismissed the application on jurisdiction means the judge - having read the papers and listened to oral arguments - was not convinced that there was any merit to claims of abuse of power and abuse of office.”