Stymied Hofmeyr takes CCMA to court

The protracted labour dispute between former Special Investigating Unit boss Willie Hofmeyr and his axed deputy, Faiek Davids, has hit yet another brick wall.

After several snags during a hearing by the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration last year, Hofmeyr's lawyers have applied for a court order compelling the commission to produce transcripts of the proceedings.

The SIU and Hofmeyr need the transcripts to appeal the CCMA ruling of senior commissioner Bart Ford, who found that the infamous Jacob Zuma spy tapes and intercepts of the conversations between Davids and former Scorpions boss Leonard McCarthy were obtained in contravention of the Regulation of Interception of Communication Act.

Ford found that evidence relating to the McCarthy-Davids recordings was "detrimental to the administration of justice".

Hofmeyr then lodged an application in the Johannesburg Labour Court to have Ford's ruling reviewed and set aside.

But, more than five months later, he is yet to receive a copy of the transcripts from the CCMA.

In an affidavit supporting an order to compel the commission to hand over the transcripts, Hofmeyr and the SIU's lawyer, Craig Kirchmann, state that, despite correspondence between them and the arbitrator, the CCMA has failed to comply.

"Given the importance of the matter to the parties, we are obliged to prosecute the matter diligently," Kirchmann said in previous correspondence.

In another affidavit, Kirchmann's personal assistant lists several phone calls, faxes and messages (more than 10 over two days) to the CCMA office.

The commission has not filed any correspondence since the affidavits were lodged on February 2.

The transcripts are the second set of "evidence" needed for the matter to proceed.

Last year, Hofmeyr said that though he had listened to parts of the spy tapes pertaining to the conversations between Davids and McCarthy he had not received a copy of them.

He wanted the CCMA to accept his word that the tapes existed, but Ford said he could not rule in Hofmeyr's favour.

In the absence of the tapes, Ford found there was no tangible evidence, only Hofmeyr's testimony, that the recordings existed.

The Davids-McCarthy recordings were among the tapes that got Zuma off the hook on corruption charges.

In November last year, Hofmeyr wrote to the Office for Interception Centres requesting confirmation that the centre was in possession of recordings of intercepted phone conversations that allegedly demonstrated connivance between Davids and McCarthy.

Central to the recordings Hofmeyr sought - of which there is no transcript or copy - is one of a telephone conversation Davids is alleged to have had with McCarthy about the ANC leadership battle. It was this conversation that led to Davids' sacking.

Hofmeyr alleges that during this conversation - in which Davids recounted a confidential conversation between him, Hofmeyr and former National Prosecuting Authority head Bulelani Ngcuka, at East London Airport on December 15 2007 - Davids accused Hofmeyr of being disloyal because he did not want to use the unit to support then president Thabo Mbeki's bid to retain the leadership of the ANC.

Hofmeyr also alleges that Davids said that "Hofmeyr's neutrality showed that he had switched to the Zuma camp".

Hofmeyr wants Ford's ruling to be reviewed, claiming that he committed several gross irregularities during the CCMA proceedings.

• Michael Leaser, regional head of the SIU in Western Cape, will return to work next month. He was suspended more than a year ago.

At the time of his suspension in January last year it was said that he was being investigated for "administrative irregularities".

An SIU spokesman said the suspension was "precautionary".

"Given the work of the unit, it is important that any allegations need to be dealt with properly, and to establish whether there is substance to the allegations or else to clear his name," said the spokesman.- Additional reporting by Nashira Davids