Suspended National Intelligence Agency director general Billy Masetlha intends asking the Pretoria High Court next week for an order to reinstate him.
Masetlha would bring an urgent application seeking the setting aside of what he considers an unlawful suspension, his attorney Imraan Haffegee said on Tuesday.
”We have asked the registrar of the court to put the matter down for hearing on November 22,” he said.
Intelligence Minister Ronnie Kasrils and President Thabo Mbeki were cited as respondents in the matter.
But, Haffegee said, Masetlha was not seeking any relief from the president.
”He is only cited because he has an interest in the matter.”
In the notice of motion, Masetlha seeks an order declaring his suspension unlawful.
He also asks for Kasrils to be interdicted from interfering with his [Masetlha’s] ”right to enter his office premises and carry out his duties”.
The respondents were given until the end of the week to file responding papers, Haffegee said.
The court said it had no record of such an application.
Kasrils suspended Masetlha and two other senior officials last month pending the outcome of an ongoing probe into claims of ”serious misconduct” allegedly related to the unauthorised surveillance of politician-turned-businessman Saki Macozoma.
The suspension of Masetlha, his deputy Gibson Njenje and NIA general manager Bob Mhlanga, followed an initial probe by the Inspector General of Intelligence at Kasrils’ instruction.
This followed a complaint from a member of the public, believed to be Macozoma.
The matter has been linked in the media to a succession battle in the ruling African National Congress between Mbeki and his axed corruption-accused deputy Jacob Zuma.
Macozoma is said to be a Mbeki loyalist. The ministry has denied that the suspensions were politically motivated. – Sapa