Cape Town city manager Wallace Mgoqi on Monday evening brushed aside a council decision to terminate his contract, saying he will be in the office as usual on Tuesday.
”I’m at work every day: I will go in tomorrow,” he said.
A full council meeting on Monday morning resolved to revoke former mayor Nomaindia Mfeketo’s decision to extend Mgoqi’s contract for a year.
The decision was made on the eve of the March 1 local government polls, which saw Mfeketo’s African National Congress elbowed out by a multiparty government led by the Democratic Alliance’s Helen Zille.
Long-serving council administrator Achmat Ebrahim (50) has been named acting city manager in Mgoqi’s place.
Mgoqi said in a statement issued by his lawyer that Zille herself was on record as conceding that only a court of law could decide on the validity of the contract.
”Accordingly Dr Mgoqi continues to regard his contract as valid and will continue to tender his services accordingly,” the statement read.
An agreement had been reached last Friday — when Mgoqi threatened to seek an interdict against Monday’s council meeting — between Mgoqi, the council’s speaker and the city as an entity that the decision to convene the meeting would be reviewed by the High Court on May 9.
To this end, a timetable for the filing of further papers and heads of argument had been agreed on.
”To therefore expect or demand Dr Mgoqi’s removal from his office is entirely inappropriate and premature,” the statement read.
The statement also said Monday’s council meeting was itself invalid, and that Mgoqi was not given a chance to be heard on the revocation of the contract.
This council resolution not only violated his rights under the Labour Relations Act, but also his constitutional right to administrative justice.
Zille’s spokesperson Robert Macdonald said in reaction that none of the arguments put forward in the statement were ”of any legal substance”.
”His lawyer has never presented an argument as to why they maintain his contract remains valid,” he said.
Asked what would happen if Mgoqi turned up on Tuesday, Macdonald said he would not be prevented from entering the office, and would be given a ”reasonable time” to wind up his affairs.
”But he’s not going to be able to act as city manager, that’s the bottom line,” he said. ”We hope Dr Mgoqi will not embarrass himself.”
- Until Monday’s appointment Ebrahim was executive director of the city secretariat. He was previously executive director of community services. – Sapa