Mohloai Mpesi
The suspended Directorate on Corruption and Economic Offences (DCEO)’s Director General Mahlomola Manyokole said he is ready to sing like a canary and tell the world why he said his removal from the Directorate was political.
After his appeal case was dismissed with costs last Friday by Appeal Court Judge President Kananelo Mosito, Manyokole said he is ready to soldier on to the tribunal should the Prime Minister Moeketsi Majoro stage it.
Manyokole was served with a letter to show- cause why he could not be suspended and a tribunal couldn’t be staged against him to test his fitness in running the Directorate last December.
The case was then argued before Justice Moroke Mokhesi on January 14, 2021 who handed down the judgment on February 18, 2021. The judgment dismissed Manyokole’s application ab initio and the tribunal should continue to be staged against him.
Manyokole swiftly appealed Mokhesi’s judgment crying foul that he was unfairly treated in the whole process there was no pre-trial given to him before the tribunal could be staged. Earlier this week, Manyokole echoed that he is ready to take the stance before tribunal to spill a can of worms, and reveal corruption acts of Majoro.
“This case was a victory to me instead of loss because I achieved what I wanted; I was able to buy time so that the instigator Nqosa Mahao is expelled from the government. The truth will come out and I am ready to go before the tribunal to be questioned because I am going to tell the world why I said my suspension and endeavour to remove me was political.
“I accept the decision of the court as is although it is contradictory. The judge said Majoro did not give me a pre-hearing before setting up a tribunal against me. The court says I should not return to the directorate because I will overthrow the government. They misinterpret the law because they said it is unlawful not to be granted pre-hearing but then they also say it is the court’s discretion that I should not return to work,†he said before mentioning that “the court contradicted itself on the judgment.
“I am happy that it has revealed many things to me on where I stand,†he said.
“I am not resigning and I am ready for the tribunal. The reason that the Prime Minister wants to remove me is because he knows that I was investigation. I am waiting patiently for the tribunal. I am happy for the judgment because now I know better,†he said.
Mosito judgment stated that Manyokole “accuses the Minister and Prime Minister of being actuated by malice in initiating the statutory power under section 4 of Corruption Act. He makes it plain under oath that the Minister and the Prime Minister are pursuing personal interests in invoking statutory power created for the removal of DG.
He went on to divulge that Manyokole stated in his affidavit that he has ‘secret information and intelligence’ that some people who are the subject of corruption related investigations by the DCEO under his stewardship and ‘busking in the comfort, nefarious criminality, have suggested to the government that all means must be adopted and employed to ensure his removal from the office of the DCEO.
“According to Manyokole, the Minister’s December 10, 2020 show-cause letter (the first show-cause letter) was in pursuit of that stratagem. He avers that after the withdrawal of the first letter, he received ‘intelligence that the Prime Minister and the Minister are bent towards ensuring that I am removed from the office of the Director General, and making all preparations and strategies to ensure that that goal is achieved.
“The majority of the imputations on the characters of the Minister and the Prime Minister are based on inadmissible hearsay evidence as summarized in paragraph 38 to 41 of this judgment. For example, Mr. Manyokole states that the Minister and the Prime Minister confided in others that he should be removed, that a replacement has been found and that his belief is based on intelligence which he is not at liberty to disclose,†Mosito said.
“The affidavits paint a very shocking picture of the toxic atmosphere that has risen between Mr. Manyokole and some of the most senior members of the executive. Very serious allegations of corruption which are largely unsubstantiated have been levelled against the two functionaries statutorily mandated to initiate the process to investigate the conduct of a DG.
“Manyokole in unambiguous terms makes clear on affidavit that the initiation of the investigation process into his fitness to hold office is driven by ulterior motives: to silence him from pursuing corruption investigations against the Prime Minister, the Minister and or people associated with them,†he said.
“These allegations are sufficiently serious to undermine the social contract between the governed and those that govern so as to erode legitimacy in the entire governance edifice.
He said, “For all of above considerations, Manyokole ought to have been and was properly denied the declaratory and review relief he sought to nullify the establishment of the tribunal to inquire into his fitness to hold office.
“In any event, Mr. Manyokole already made clear in his founding affidavit that it is not necessary to suspend him pending the outcome of the tribunal’s deliberations. The public spat between the Executive and the DG will therefore continue unabated and cause great damage Kingdom’s orderly governance. This matter should proceed to finality with deliberate haste so that the true facts are established in an open and transparent manner,†he said.