A Limpopo school has been battling without a permanent principal for eight years because the original application forms of candidates shortlisted for the post were “lost between the circuit office and the school”.
Earlier this month, the Polokwane high court set aside the department’s decision to re-advertise the post of principal at Tidima Secondary School in August 2020, after an application brought by the governing body.
The court was also asked to order the department to appoint, within one month, the governing body’s recommended candidate who was interviewed on June 6 2019.
But Polokwane high court judge Marisa Naudé-Odendaal sent back the matter to the department for reconsideration and compliance with the Employment of Educators Act (EEA).
She also ordered the department to pay the governing body’s legal costs.
There is nothing indicative that the recommended candidate is not a suitable candidate to be appointed, especially since he has acted in the position for many years.
— Judge Marisa Naudé-Odendaal
According to a transcript of her judgment, the department initially advertised the principal post on September 11 2014, and the shortlisting of candidates took place on April 10 2015.
Five candidates were shortlisted, but on the evening of April 10 the circuit manager telephoned the chair of the governing body and instructed him to stop the interview process.
“A tussle developed between the governing body and department officials at district level and Sekgosese West circuit. At some point the recruitment function was taken away from the governing body,” judge Naudé-Odendaal said.
However, on January 30 2019, the head of department, Onica Dederen, sent a letter to the governing body indicating she had granted approval for filling the principal post.
The department informed the governing body that “due to the dragged-out period (from 2015 to 2019)”, the district could not trace the applications of the five shortlisted candidates.
The governing body was asked to get these candidates to fill in new forms.
Interviews scheduled for May 9 2019, could not go ahead as some candidates decided not to attend and it was rescheduled for June 6 2019.
Only one of the shortlisted candidates arrived for the interview and the governing body duly recommended him for the job as he had been acting as principal for several years.
But despite the governing body’s recommendation, the department never made the appointment nor gave reasons for not appointing the recommended candidate.
According to the transcript, it proceeded to re-advertise the post on August 17 2020.
The governing body contended that the department could not re-advertise the post before complying with the provisions of the EEA.
The department said, “because of various challenges”, interviews were only held five years after the post was advertised.
Judge Naudé-Odendaal said the department submitted that the original applicationsof the shortlisted candidates were lost.
“The biggest concern was the documentation that was lost between the circuit office and the school.”
The department said the governing body must submit a list of three recommended candidates in order of preference, or fewer than three “in consultation with the head of department”.
According to the transcript, “the appointment of the [recommended candidate] would not have been rationally and procedurally fair”.
Judge Naudé-Odendaal said the department failed to give consideration to a section of the EEA which states that the head of department may appoint any suitable candidate on the list.
“There is nothing indicative that the recommended candidate is not a suitable candidate to be appointed, especially since he has acted in the position for many years.”
But she did not grant the governing body’s application asking the court to order the department to appoint the recommended candidate.
Instead she ruled that the department should be given an opportunity “to perform its respective functions properly without the interference of the court”.
Israel Maenetja, the lawyer who acted on behalf of the governing body, could not be reached for comment.
Limpopo education department spokesperson Mike Maringa told TimesLIVE Premium that Dederen is still studying the judgment and “not yet in a position to apply her mind”.
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