The legal battle continues between the Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) and its suspended head of legal, Martha Ngoye, a whistle-blower and corruption-buster.
Prasa chair Leonard Ramatlakane approached the Johannesburg labour court on February 9 to review an arbitration award to Ngoye and to stay the award.
On February 1, the arbitration, which was presided over by advocate Imthiaz Sirkhot, found Ngoye not guilty of charges of misconduct levelled against her by Prasa.
In reply, on February 16, Ngoye filed a notice to oppose Prasa’s applications. She asked the court to certify the arbitration award and find Prasa in contempt of court.
Ngoye has also asked De Swardt Myambo Hlahla Attorneys, which filed the applications for Prasa, to satisfy the labour court that they are permitted to act on the rail agency’s behalf as the firm does not appear to be on Prasa’s list of legal providers.
Ngoye argued that Prasa’s board is once again not quorate (properly constituted) and cannot take decisions on the company’s behalf.
Since Ramatlakane took over as chair of Prasa in October 2020, he has been trying to sack, suspend and sue Ngoye. Prasa has repeatedly lost in court.
The arbitration had been agreed to by Prasa and Ngoye as a means to resolve the three-year impasse, and to clarify accusations of misconduct against her that Prasa was using to motivate her suspension. With the decision of the arbitrator, Ngoye expected to be allowed to return to work.
As head of legal at Prasa, Ngoye led the charge against companies that took advantage of former CEO Lucky Montana’s leadership. Her victories include the overturning of the Siyangena security contracts, the Swifambo “tall-trains” deal, and payments made to Makhensa Mabunda’s Siyaya companies. Her actions probably saved the public billions of rand.
While suspended by Ramatlakane, Ngoye testified about state capture at Prasa during Montana’s time in charge.
In a February 10 letter to Ngoye, De Swardt Myambo Hlahla Attorneys wrote: “After having studied the award and having obtained legal advice, our client has decided to have the award reviewed and set aside... Our client maintains a reasonable apprehension that your client was involved in acts of misconduct and that the arbitrator reached a decision that a reasonable decisionmaker would not have reached.”
Ramatlakane’s affidavit for Prasa seeks a review of every major finding in the arbitrator’s award. He also argues that Sirkhot “failed to properly identify the dispute … did not deal with the substantive issues of the dispute”.
“Upon the conclusion of our [Prasa internal] investigation, we established that [Ngoye] was part of the previous [Montana] administration and played a pivotal role in, among other things, the awarding of contracts during her tenure in the previous administration,” writes Ramatlakane in his affidavit. “[Ngoye] was therefore charged accordingly.”
The Prasa investigation that led to the charges has not been released publicly, or in any of Prasa’s legal actions against Ngoye, despite requests for its release.
“The evidence demonstrates that [Ngoye] failed to execute her responsibilities in a diligent and honest manner,” writes Ramatlakane.
In response, on February 16, Ngoye’s lawyers, Haffegee Roskam and Savage, wrote to Prasa’s lawyers to inform them that they would oppose Prasa’s action and seek to have Sirkhot’s arbitration award certified. “Once the arbitration award is certified, our client will proceed to enforce the award through contempt proceedings against the members of the Prasa board in the labour court and shall seek a personal, and punitive, costs order,” the lawyers said.
The lawyers claimed in their letter that Ngoye’s suspension is unlawful, and that should Prasa persist the matter will go to the CCMA as an “unfair labour practice dispute”.
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