Would-be municipal boss wins right to know why he didn't get job

When Gezani Isaac Masingi didn’t get the job he applied for‚ he wasn’t prepared to take a simple “no” for an answer.

First he wrote to Greater Giyani Municipality in Limpopo asking for results of the interviews it had held for the position of municipal manager‚ as well as the competency assessments. When that failed‚ he brought an application under the Promotion of Access to Information Act‚ which the municipality ignored.

So Masingi went to court‚ and on Thursday a judge in the high court in Pretoria ordered the municipality to explain why he had not been appointed. It must also: - Disclose the names of the top three candidates in the recruitment process; - Give Masingi his personal competency assessment scores; and - Pay Masingi’s costs.

Acting judge Namhla Siwendu said Masingi had made it clear that he knew “his appointment was not a birthright”.

However‚ “for decades‚ the right to be provided with reasons for decisions made in the exercise of a public function ... has been an integral part of our administrative law system”. - TMG Digital/The Times