Ntlemeza wants to stop Mbalula’s ‘weird conduct’, seeks restraining order

Ousted Hawks head General Berning Ntlemeza will on Tuesday apply for an urgent court application to immediately get his job back and stop Police Minister Fikile Mbalula from “intimidating” him and making public statements which subject him to ridicule.

He said in court papers it was clear that Mbalula, with his “bellicose speech, military attitude” and “weird conduct”, was on the warpath against him and was determined not to recognise him as head of the Hawks.

“A serious concern to me and my legal representatives is that the minister, a very senior official of the state, has no respect for legal process,” he said.

Ntlemeza said even after Mbalula was warned that his appeal against an enforcement order granted by the full court automatically suspended the high court order which ousted him from his post, Mbalula did not cease his “escapades”.

“I do not know why he had adopted a hostile approach towards me because the erstwhile minister of police was satisfied with my services until he was transferred to the department of public works.

“…What is most hurtful are the gratuitous, vilifying remarks the minister continues to make about me in the media. This is damaging not only to me but also to the image of the DPCI.

“A restraint order is necessary to stop him from his abrasive escapades,” he said.

Ntlemeza wants the court to stop Mbalula and his employees from intimidating him and preventing him from entering the Hawks offices in Pretoria and unlawfully interfering with the performance of his duties as the head of the Hawks.

He further wants his cellphone and official vehicle back and wants the court to stop Mbalula from making public statements “which embarrass, humiliate, degrade, undermine and subject (him) to contempt and ridicule”.

Ntlemeza wants to remain on in his post on the same terms as before a ruling by a full bench of the high court enforcing its March 17 ruling, setting aside former police minister Nathi Nhleko’s decision to appoint him as head of the Hawks pending the outcome of his appeal.

Ntlemeza said in in terms of the Superior Courts Act, the court granting an enforcement order had to give its reasons immediately, which was not done and the ruling was therefore defective.

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