In a newly filed founding affidavit before court the chief spy says the court order issued in 2024 involving Pelotshweu Masilomangwe and 406 others on salary backpays will not be implemented in its current form. According to Magosi, after considering the pleadings, court orders and judgments in the matter and consultations with the Director of Directorate of Public Service Management and the Attorney General, he has come to the conclusion that the judgment cannot be executed. The dispute centres around a default order granted by former judge Zein Kebonang on June 3, 2024 and he says the order declared that the decision not to pay the plaintiffs back pay was unlawful.
The order referred to several possible dates from which the payments could be backdated, including 2001, when Directive No. 10 of 2001 came into force, and April 2008, based on Directive No. 6 of 2008 and a government Savingram. Magosi says the government believes the default order is wrong in law but accepts that court orders must be obeyed where they are clear and capable of being carried out. However, he argues that this particular order does not meet that standard. "The essence and/or substance of the default order, as I understand it, is that the decision by the defendants not to pay the plaintiffs is unlawful," the DIS head says. He adds that although the government considers the order legally incorrect, "it ought to be obeyed and complied with to the extent that it is clear, unambiguous and capable of compliance." He argues that the order is not clear because it does not give reasons for the decision and simply repeats the wording used in the plaintiffs' declaration.
