Dlodlo landed with Apleni suspension
• New home affairs minister faces director-general row
Newly appointed Home Affairs Minister Ayanda Dlodlo will have to issue fresh instructions to the legal team representing the department in the matter involving suspended director-general Mkuseli Apleni.
Newly appointed Home Affairs Minister Ayanda Dlodlo will have to issue fresh instructions to the legal team representing the department in the matter involving suspended directorgeneral Mkuseli Apleni.
Hlengiwe Mkhize placed Apleni on suspension on several charges including insubordination and a breakdown in relations. As of Tuesday, however, Mkhize succeeded Blade Nzimande as higher education minister, leaving the Apleni saga for Dlodlo to resolve.
The High Court in Pretoria was deliberating on the matter on Tuesday, when news broke about the Cabinet reshuffle — President Jacob Zuma’s second in 2017.
After a brief adjournment, the court heard that the home affairs legal team representing the minister was unable to reach her for new instructions as it did not have Dlodlo’s contact details. However, argument went ahead regardless.
Mkhize had accused the director-general of failing to provide leadership during negotiations with unions, failing to fill posts and failing to keep the minister informed of important departmental developments.
Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, Apleni’s lawyer, told the high court that the minister had ulterior motives for suspending his client.
In court papers, Apleni had submitted that the reasons advanced by the minister for his suspension were invalid, irrational and procedurally unfair, and she did not have the power to suspend him — only the president could as he was the authority who had hired him.
In his application to reverse the suspension, Apleni said Mkhize wanted him out of the way in order to settle a multimillion-rand litigation claim against the department.
The director-general had mentioned a R300m claim by Double Ring Trading‚ a company home affairs has accused of fraud; and litigation brought by Fireblade Aviation, which operates a VVIP terminal at OR Tambo International Airport and is owned by the Oppenheimer family, as being at the heart of his dispute with the minister. They disagreed on how to approach the issues.
Fireblade is involved in protracted legal action with the department, which denied the firm’s request to install immigration and customs services at the terminal.
During his presentation to the court, Ngcukaitobi raised the fact that Mkhize had visited the Oppenheimers at their premises to substantiate his client’s claim that Mkhize wanted to protect the family’s interests by kicking Apleni out of the department.
Zuma is cited as a respondent in the case because Apleni believes only the president can suspend a director-general. However, the Presidency has argued that the minister had been delegated the power to suspend a director-general as per the Senior Management Services Handbook of 2003.
Home affairs said it was unclear what the next course of action was, while Dlodlo was not available for comment.