Gauteng MEC Tasneem Motara ordered to reinstate development agency’s board

The Pretoria high court has ordered that members of the dissolved Gauteng Growth and Development Agency’s board be reinstated, having come to the view that they seem to have been the casualties of MEC Tasneem Motara’s “wrath”.

Motara, the province’s member of the executive council for economic development, dissolved the agency’s board in March after a battle over the recruitment of a new chief executive. 

The MEC, the first respondent in the case, accused the board of attempting to deliberately usurp her powers by getting her to rubber-stamp their candidate for the role. The removed board chair, Sibongile Vilakazi, in turn alleged that Motara had an ulterior motive when she removed the board, which paved the way for the MEC to install her preferred candidate.

In its ruling, the high court said there were reasons to believe that Motara — who did not have a shareholder’s resolution to dissolve the board, in accordance with the Companies Act — did have an ulterior motive when she removed the board.

Upon realising that the matter between the MEC and the board had become serious and it was clearly a dispute, the court noted, the board invoked the dispute resolution mechanism in the shareholder compact. 

Despite having acknowledged the dispute, Motara cancelled a meeting scheduled for 24 March, effectively cancelling the dispute resolution process. Motara also refused to meet the board on more than three occasions, thus failing to comply with the shareholder compact, the court found.

“All these ‘reasons’ leave one to reasonably infer the existence of ulterior motives on the part of the first respondent,” the court noted.

“One would further expect the political office bearer (MEC) to apply herself more productively in policy formulation and development, rather than being involved in recruitment processes.”

“The inescapable conclusion in this application,” the court added, “is that the board has unbeknownst to it, through asserting its independence and by being diligent invited the wrath of the first respondent, resulting in its demise.”

Pending the finalisation of a review, the court ruled that Motara’s decision to dissolve the board be suspended and that the board members be reinstated as directors with effect from 24 March 2023. 

The court further ruled that the appointment of any directors to replace the axed board be set aside. Motara is also interdicted from appointing any directors to the board.