Former National Intelligence Agency (NIA) director general Billy Masetlha will ask the Constitutional Court on Thursday to overturn a Pretoria High Court ruling upholding his dismissal.
Masetlha was suspended in October 2005 and dismissed in March 2006 over hoax emails purporting to show that senior African National Congress (ANC) members were conspiring against its deputy president, Jacob Zuma, and secretary general Kgalema Motlanthe.
Pretoria High Court Judge Ben du Plessis ruled in December 2006 that a breakdown of trust was a lawful reason for Masetlha’s suspension and sacking by President Thabo Mbeki.
However, Masetlha contends that the decision to suspend him was not made by the president, but by Intelligence Minister Ronnie Kasrils, who did not have the legal capacity to so.
Alternatively, he argues that the decision breached his right to procedural fairness under the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act as he was not given a hearing.
The president contends that the decision was lawful.
Masetlha has, meanwhile, been charged — along with software salesperson Muziwendoda Kunene and NIA electronic surveillance manager Funowakhe Madlala — with fraud involving R152 000 relating to the hoax emails.
The charge sheet alleges that they pretended to Mbeki, Kasrils and the NIA that several ”controversial and damaging” documents were genuine, when they were actually fabrications.
In February, the Hatfield Magistrate’s Court in Pretoria was told by NIA inspector general Zolile Ngcakani that there had been no political conspiracy to oust Masetlha.
In April, Masetlha subpoenaed Motlanthe to hand over an ANC report into the hoax emails for use in the fraud trial in July.
That document was reportedly sealed and classified as confidential after it was rejected by the ANC national executive committee in March. — Sapa