Court summons eThekwini officials for defying Labour Court reinstatement order
eThekwini City Manager Musa Mbhele and two others have been ordered to be at Labour court in November to explain why they violated a court order.
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A senior investigator for the eThekwini municipality has again dragged the City to court for failing to comply with a Labour Court order. The investigator claims the municipality is reassigning him to the Supply Side Area Based Operations Directorate instead of returning him to his original position at City Integrity and Investigations Unit (CIIU), like the court ordered in August.
The investigator cannot be named due to a court order prohibiting the media from naming state witnesses at the R320 million tender corruption case involving former eThekwini mayor Zandile Gumede.
The investigator was dismissed in December 2024 following an internal disciplinary hearing. The dismissal stemmed from misconduct allegations related to the contract with Integrity Forensic Solutions (IFS) - a forensic company that investigated Gumede and 21 others.
The controversy that resulted in disciplinary hearings and dismissal of the senior investigator began after a whistle-blower’s report in May 2023, alleging irregularities in IFS’s appointment. IFS was appointed by the CIIU.
In an affidavit, the investigator said he reported for duty on August 18, 2025, as the order instructed. He said he had a meeting with municipal officials, together with CIIU boss Jimmy Ngcobo, who gave him his reinstatement letter, which reassigned him to a new directorate.
“I informed them that this letter was unlawful and violated the court order, which required my reinstatement to my previous position,” he explained.
Later that day, the investigator said he instructed his lawyers to address the issues raised in the meeting via email, which included his job description and the court's judgment.
The eThekwini legal team responded and instructed him to report for duty the next day and stated they would address the other issues by August 22.
“I complied and reported to the CIIU offices on 20 August, where I was told to work from a different location instead of my assigned office,” he said.
He said that in the new location, an office for him was not prepared, and he was made to park far from the new office.
Furthermore, he said on August 22, he was summoned to a CIIU boardroom where a police officer informed him that he was investigating the alleged theft of documents. As a result, he said he received a notice of precautionary suspension pending a disciplinary inquiry.
He said that the eThekwini legal team failed to address the issues they had promised to resolve.
A court order, which was granted to the investigator early this week, directs eThekwini, City manager Musa Mbhele, Sbonelo Mchunu, and Bokang Molefe to come to the Labour Court to state why they should not be charged for contempt of court for failing to reinstate the investigator at CIIU.
Failure to appear in court in November would result in an arrest or paying a fine.