THE Ekurhuleni Metro has blamed its former legal representatives for the Labour Court ruling that found its city manager, Dr. Imogen Mashazi, guilty of contempt of court for failing to comply with an arbitration award.

The municipality has stated that it considers the matter now settled and that there is no legal basis for Mashazi’s arrest or imprisonment.

”The city is considering all available options, including potential civil claims against the legal representatives who failed to act during critical stages of the case,” the metro threatened.

The case had been handled by previous attorneys representing the city from June 2018 until January last year, but during the contempt proceedings in February 2023, no answering affidavit was filed on its behalf or the city manager’s, leaving the court with only the SA Municipal Workers’ Union’s (Samwu’s) version of events.

The Labour Court then handed down its contempt of court finding, imposed a wholly suspended sentence of imprisonment in February 2023, and refused leave to appeal a year later.

The municipality said it then appointed new legal representatives and successfully launched an application for leave to petition the Labour Appeal Court (LAC) in January last year.

Ekurhuleni said when the LAC heard the matter, it was informed that the dispute had been settled and that the parties involved had formally withdrawn their opposition.

IOL reported this week that Mashazi was sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment, wholly suspended for a period of two years, on condition that she and the municipality comply with the Labour Court’s ruling to place several Samwu members into various grades and notches on the new salary scale with effect from April 2017 but failed to do so.

According to the City of Ekurhuleni, it then pursued settlement negotiation and the matter was eventually resolved on terms significantly lower than those set out in the original arbitration award.

”The original (unquantified) award exposed the city to claims over R40 million. Importantly, the city’s challenge to the legitimacy of the arbitration award remained consistent throughout,” the municipality explained.

Additionally, in the signed settlement agreement, Samwu acknowledged that after considering the city's explanation, it accepted it as plausible.

The municipality maintained that Mashazi was never personally served and had no knowledge of the arbitration award during the relevant period, and that this was reflected in the application for leave to appeal, which was dismissed with costs by the LAC earlier this month.

The LAC also ordered Mashazi to pay 10% of the costs while the municipality will be responsible for 90%. Ekurhuleni claimed the responsibility for the implementation of the arbitration award rested with the relevant officials and legal representatives and not Mashazi.

“The responsibility for implementing the arbitration award did not lie with the city manager, but rather with the relevant senior manager for employee relations in the human resources department and the law firm that was appointed at the time,” the municipality further explained.

loyiso.sidimba@inl.co.za

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Ekurhuleni Metro considers civil claims against lawyers who 'bungled' contempt case