Former communications minister Dina Pule's spin doctor Wisani Ngobeni has won an urgent bid to get his job back, reports Sunday Times. This comes after the spokesperson was told he was no longer needed to fix Pule's blunders.
According to the Sunday newspaper, Ngobeni on Friday obtained an order from the Johannesburg Labour Court allowing him to return to his job as chief director of marketing and communications at the Department of Communications (DOC), pending settlement negotiations with the department.
Sunday Times says Ngobeni approached the court last week to stop communications minister Yunus Carrim from transferring him to Free State premier Ace Magashule's office. A former journalist, Ngobeni moved from the premier's office and took up a job at the DOC in April - a move the newspaper said was to "polish Pule's sullied image".
However, this did not last long. When Carrim took over from Pule in July, Ngobeni was reportedly told he was no longer needed and should return to the Free State. He also rejected an offer to take up a position at the Department of Public Service and Administration, says the paper. "Instead, Ngobeni headed to court, asking it to order his immediate reinstatement in the communications department in position that earned him close to R1 million a year."
Ngobeni reportedly also sought an order stopping Carrim and the DOC's director-general Rosey Sekese from appointing anyone to the position, until the finalisation of a dispute he lodged with the General Public Service Sectoral Bargaining Council.
On Friday, says Sunday Times, in line with a court order, Ngobeni and the department agreed to continue negotiating a settlement for another two weeks. Until the matter is finalised, Ngobeni will return to work at the DOC.
"The department will look for a suitable substantially similar post for Ngobeni. If he remains unsatisfied, the matter could head back to court," says the newspaper.
Earlier this month, Ngobeni's position was advertised as an "all-inclusive package of R934 866 per annum" but Sunday Times notes Carrim and Sekese have undertaken not to fill the vacancy until Ngobeni's matter is resolved.
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