LOW-FLYING
department of basic education to follow up.
But Nkosana Thakgedi, an official in the department’s governance and management unit, replied that the e-mail was “misdirected” and should be sent to labour relations.
“It has been a back and forth in e-mails between the three departments.
“No-one seems interested in looking into Ngwenya’s appointment,” he said.
For weeks, The Citizen sought comment from Howard Ndaba, the Free State education spokesperson and premier Mxolisi Dukwana’s spokesperson, Sello Dithebe.
Dithebe requested that the questions be e-mailed to both of them, but neither has replied.
Ngwenya was convicted in Bethlehem on two counts of theft,
each involving an amount of R500, and one count of defeating the ends of justice in 2000.
This happened when he was an acting prosecutor at the Tseke Magistrate’s Court outside Harrismith. He was sentenced to two years for theft and one year for defeating the ends of justice. He served 10 months and was released under correctional supervision.
Court documents show that Ngwenya’s quest to be admitted as an advocate first fell through in 2005 before Judge Ivor Schwartzman in the High Court in Johannesburg.
Having claimed that he was wrongfully convicted and was therefore fit to be admitted as an advocate, Schwartzman dismissed Ngwenya’s appeal against the Johannesburg and Pretoria bar councils.
“The applicant cannot claim to have reformed because he has not come to terms with the character defect that led to his convictions.
“This means that his statement that he was wrongfully convicted is untrue, which means he is not a fit and proper person to be admitted as an advocate. The applicant’s application is dismissed.”
Both the Gauteng-based bar councils turned down his application to be an admitted advocate, citing his criminal convictions.
–