Paying the cost of vanity litigation
If this week’s Labour Court decision had done nothing but reinstate dismissed senior staffers of the SABC, we would have celebrated. But it did a whole lot more than that, writes legal commentator Carmel Rickard in her A Matter of Justice column on the Legalbrief Today site. By threatening those responsible for dismissing the journalists with having to pay the legal costs on a punitive scale and out of their own pockets, the decision will help sober up officials who recklessly spend public money on unwinnable, anti-constitutional litigation.
Rickard notes that Judge Robert Lagrange said he was concerned that the dismissals were authorised ‘with reckless disregard for pending (legal) applications and with little regard for th e costs and benefits to the SABC of doing so.’ It was all the more worrying that such poor decisions were taken ‘during a time of financial crisis’. She says his widely-welcomed order will see SABC officials pleading to be let off what could be hugely significant legal costs. ‘Just think of the other benefits. Officials carrying out the instructions of the SABC bosses may well rethink their role in future where these instructions are so clearly in reckless disregard of the Constitution, not to mention fairness and justice. Who would risk bankruptcy for the honour of being (Hlaudi) Motsoeneng’s messenger?’
Rickard points out that the judge’s order is also timely. Opposition has been growing to state institutions and parastatals that waste huge sums on hopeless legal action. Just this week tax ombud and former Gauteng Judge President Bernard Ngoepe flighted the idea that public servants and heads of state-owned entitie s should have to pay out of their own pockets for vanity litigation. The Mail & Guardian quoted Ngoepe as saying when such cases had no merit or were pursued against sound legal advice or on grounds that were ‘patently against the Constitution’, it would be appropriate for those responsible to pay personally, rather than handing the bill to the tax payer.
Article disclaimer: While we have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of this article, it is not intended to provide final legal advice as facts and situations will differ from case to case, and therefore specific legal advice should be sought with a lawyer.
