Moorosi Tsiane
PRINCIPAL Secretary of the Ministry of Local Government, Chieftainship, Home Affairs and Police, ‘Mamphaka Mabesa, has been found guilty of contempt of court after she defied a 5 June 2023 High Court order.
Justice Maliepollo Makhetha this week ruled that Ms Mabesa was guilty of defying her June 2023 order for her ministry to stop interfering with the terms of employment of Maseru Town Clerk, Selate Molete.
Ms Mabesa may be committed to jail for 60 days when Justice Makhetha sentences her.
Mr Molete had filed an intervention application in May last year for the court to interdict then Minister of Local Government and Chieftainship Moshe Leoma and his then PS Moshe Mosaase from interfering with his employment contract pending finalization of his main application to retain his job. He had launched the intervention application after his predecessor as town clerk, Moeko Maboee, had also gone to court to demand his job back.
On 5 June 2023, Mr Molete had been granted an interim order interdicting Minister Leoma and PS Mosaase from “interfering with the applicant’s terms and conditions of his employment contract pending finalization of this application and the main application before this Honourable Court.”
However, on 25 January 2024, Ms Mabesa who was appointed Local Government and Chieftainship, Home Affairs and Police PS in December last year, wrote a letter of re-assignment to Mr Molete transferring him from the position of Town Clerk to the Deputy Principal Secretary (DPS) position under the same ministry.
Mr Molete rejected the transfer and instead asked for a meeting with Ms Mabesa to discuss the issue further. To his surprise, while they were still locked in negotiations, Ms Mabesa advertised the Town Clerk position as vacant.
This forced Mr Molete to approach the courts, filing a fresh application of contempt of court which was heard by Justice Makhetha Tuesday last week.
Mr Molete argued that the June 2023 order remained extant as the intervention application was still pending before court.
Justice Makhetha had ordered that Ms Mabesa be brought before her court the following day Wednesday to explain to the court why she could not be arrested for contempt of court for defying the June 2023 interim court order.
Former Town Clerk Moeko Maboee, Maseru City Council, Local Government Service Commission, Chairman Local Government Service Commission, Ms Mabesa, Minister of Local Government and Chieftainship Affairs, Home Affairs and Police Lephema Lebona, Officer Commanding Maseru Central Police Station, Police Commissioner Holomo Molibeli and Attorney General Rapelang Motsieloa are cited as first to ninth respondents in the matter respectively.
Led in evidence by her lawyer, Advocate (Adv) T Mohloki, Ms Mabesa had told the judge she had misunderstood her court order. She then apologised saying she was determined to rectify that mistake by cancelling the re-assignment letter and reinstating Mr Molete to his position of Town Clerk.
Ms Mabesa said she had only came to understand the order after consulting with the Ministry’s legal team on 30 January 2024 after she was served with Mr Molete’s latest application.
But Justice Makhetha did not take any of that, saying it was clear that Ms Mabesa was lying to her. Adv Mohloki had informed the court that he had advised her to withdraw the advert as there was a case still pending before the court.
Mr Molete’s lawyer, Adv Sello Tšabeha, in cross examination refuted Ms Mabesa’s claim that she was not aware of the order when advertising the position. After she wrote a letter assigning his client to the new post, he said they had immediately written to her reminding her of the court order but she had decided to ignore it.
Adv Tšabeha said Ms Mabesa also got a letter from Adv Rethabile Setlojoane, who represents Mr Maboee, on 29 January 2024 advising her to withdraw that advert as there was still a pending case, but that letter was also ignored.
Mr Maboee is Mr Molete’s predecessor who is still challenging his removal from the top post.
Adv Setlojoane said the fact that Ms Mabesa was giving the court “different versions” of when she got legal advice was because she was not telling the truth.
Justice Makhetha said Ms Mabesa was guilty of contempt.
She said the courts expected every person, irrespective of their status, to obey court orders. Failure to obey court orders disrupted the administration of justice.
“I have analysed the evidence of PS under oath and she said she was aware of the June 2023 order, which she said she did not understand and had not consulted her lawyers when reassigning the applicant.
“She said she only consulted on 30 January 2024 when served with the contempt proceedings. However, she contradicted herself under cross-examination when she said she consulted her lawyers on 26 January 2024 when served with the application.”
Justice Makhetha said Ms Mabesa’s attitude was testament to the behaviour of senior civil servants who continuously disregarded court orders and only sprung up when faced with contempt applications.
“There is evidence that the PS was aware of the pending case and the court order but ignored them. Instead of withdrawing the letter and the advertisement, she instructed her lawyer to oppose the contempt application.”
“The recurring non-compliance of top government officials has to be dealt with. It is trite that the administration of justice can only function effectively if its orders are obeyed. No court can tolerate this kind of behaviour.
“The courts have to restore their dignity brought into disrepute by the government. She (Mabesa) lied under oath about what happened.
“In the exercise of my discretion, I am sure my order will ensure compliance and restore dignity of the courts. I find the PS in contempt of this court order of 5 June 2023,” Justice Makhetha ruled.
The judge then invited Ms Mabesa to address the court in mitigation of sentence. It had been expected that the mitigation proceedings would continue in the afternoon on Tuesday. However, Ms Mabesa asked for the court’s indulgence to change her lawyer.
Justice Makhetha agreed and postponed the matter to next Thursday. She slapped Ms Mabesa with a costs order for Advocates Setlojoane and Tṧabeha’s work for Tuesday. She was ordered to pay this from her own pocket.
