Btv loses to Ntopolelang
Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Tuesday September 16, 2014 15:56
The then acting head of news, was at the beginning of the month transferred to the public relations office of the Ministry of Minerals, Energy and Water Resources (MMEWR). He fought the transfer, and immediately launched court action.
When passing a judgement last Friday, Justice Annah Mathiba granted an order interdicting and restraining the department from implementing the terms of the letter dated the August 22 purporting to transfer the applicant from Btv to MMEWR, pending the decision the decision of an action to be instituted by the applicant to invalidate that transfer or deployment.
“No order as to costs shall be made. If the applicant does not institute action for invalidation of his transfer or deployment on the 3rd October 2014, the order under (a) and (b) above will fall away and the applicant will pay costs for his application,” judgment reads.
Mathiba said department of broadcasting services would suffer no irreparable harm if the applicant is not transferred at this stage. But the applicant would in the sense that he might not be able to fully discharge the functions of that new office, given his argument that it requires a completely different approach from his current profile.
“He may also not be able to obtain the rights that he seeks to protect,” said Mathiba.
But a day before the court decision, on September 11, Ntopolelang was slapped with a letter of re-deployment.
“I have decided to re-deploy you to BTV programmes with immediate effect. You shall therefore report to the Acting Manager, BTV who will assign you accordingly,” the letter, signed by the director of broadcasting services, Lesole Obonye, reads in part. Mmegi has learnt that Ntopolelang was considering applying for contempt of court against his employers.