Pretoria - The First Secretary for Immigration stationed in Zimbabwe failed in his urgent legal bid to interdict the Department of Home Affairs from recalling him to South Africa to face a disciplinary hearing after President Cyril Ramaphosa and his delegation were delayed for over an hour at Harare Airport.
Castro Mlaba, whose duty was to oversee the smooth running of things regarding high-ranking officials’ visits, was told by the department that it considered the delay to be serious misconduct, since he was to have ensured there were no delays.
Mlaba, whose placement in Harare was due to expire in March, at the time obtained an extension to the end of December, as his son was at school there. He thus does not want to return at this stage, nor does he feel it is fair that he has to face disciplinary proceedings in SA.
As part of his duties, Mlaba was responsible for travel arrangements and diplomatic processing of South African dignitaries visiting the host country (Zimbabwe).
Ramaphosa and his delegation visited Harare in September to attend the inauguration of re-elected President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
As prescribed by protocol, it was the duty of Mlaba to be at Harare Airport at least two hours before the departure of the president and his delegation, on September 4.
This to ensure that the travel documents of the entire delegation were processed without delay, and the departure of the entire delegation was assured without any delays or administrative difficulties.
According to the department, Mlaba failed to discharge this clear duty. As a result, the president and his delegation were delayed for over an hour at Harare airport.
This delay also had the knock-on effect of delaying the departure of the president of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The department felt that this alleged failure on the part of Mlaba constituted serious misconduct and brought South Africa into disrepute.
As a result, the department (through its attorneys) instructed him to return home to face the music.
Mlaba turned to the Johannesburg Labour Court, where he urgently wanted an interdict against Home Affairs from withdrawing his diplomatic accreditation until his contract expires in December. He also wanted an order that if the department intended to pursue the disciplinary hearing, it had to be done in Zimbabwe.
Acting Judge S Snyman turned down the application and said the court did not have the jurisdiction to entertain a matter relating to diplomatic accreditation. The judge pointed out that Mlaba had various other avenues to follow to vent his grievances.
The judge, however, had strong words for senior officials who raced to court in a bid to secure their jobs.
He said this was yet another urgent application brought by a senior employee in the service of a State department, seeking to urgently intervene in decisions made where departments were the employer. This while they knew they had to follow prescribed routes in law.
“These employees, who are highly remunerated and can thus afford it, often rush off to this court on the back of clever lawyering to try and secure an advantage over all the other thousands of litigants that patiently wait in the queue to have their cases of termination of employment or unfair labour practice disputes decided,” the judge said.
Pretoria News