Ntlemeza to fight Mbalula’s instruction barring him from work

Axed Hawks boss Berning Ntlemeza plans to challenge police minister Fikile Mbalula’s instruction that he should not return to work.

“We have finalised papers to force the minister to retract what he is saying. What he is doing is unlawful‚” Ntlemeza’s attorney Comfort Ngidi said.

Ngidi said the application could be heard next Tuesday.

“As an employee‚ you are not obliged to obey an unlawful instruction from the minister‚” Ngidi said.

Mbalula ordered Ntlemeza not to return to work‚ following a Pretoria high court judgment last month which set aside his appointment as head of the Hawks.

A second order was granted by the high court on April 12‚ stating that the operation and execution of the order made in March was not suspended and would continue to be operational and executed in full‚ whether or not there were any applications for leave to appeal.

• Bring back car and cell, Mbalula warns NtlemezaPolice Minister Fikile Mbalula read the riot act to former Hawks boss Berning Ntlemeza after the sacked policeman defiantly pitched up for work, barged into a meeting and drove off in a state vehicle yesterday. 

Ngidi said Ntlemeza had a right to return to work as he had petitioned the Supreme Court of Appeal on Friday.

Ngidi said Ntlemeza relied on the Superior Courts Act‚ which gives him the right of an automatic appeal to the next highest court in light of the execution order.

Section 18 of the Act states that if a court orders the execution of a decision‚ it must immediately record its reasons for doing so.

The Act states that the aggrieved party has an automatic right of appeal to the next highest court.

• Mbalula's response to a defiant Berning Ntlemeza - in 10 quotesPolice Minister Fikile Mbalula had no shortage of things to say after former Hawks boss Berning Ntlemeza pitched up for work on Monday. 

The Act states that an execution order should be suspended‚ pending the outcome of such an appeal.

At a media briefing on Tuesday‚ Mbalula relied on the execution order of April 12.

Mbalula said he considered Ntlemeza’s attempt to report for duty on Monday morning as unlawful.

“My understanding is that the full court of the 12th of April 2017 went further than merely granting an enforcement order and specifically ordered that the enforcement order it granted was to remain in effect notwithstanding any petition to the SCA or the Constitutional Court‚” Mbalula said on Monday.

-TMG Digital/TimesLIVE