Old Mutual's legal team has rejected Dali Mpofu calls for the insurer's board members should be jailed. As previously reported, Moyo has applied to have directors (including chairperson Trevor Manuel) declared delinquents for alleged negligence and wilful misconduct.

In papers filed with the Gauteng High Court (Johannesburg), Moyo, who was dismissed in 2019, says he wants 13 current and former non-executive directors of the insurance and investment group jailed for up to six months.

The company's legal team rejected claims that former President Jacob Zuma's behaviour in the contempt of court case and Old Mutual directors' actions were comparable.

Furthermore, they argue that Manuel was apologetic regarding his controversial remarks about a judge, and in other instances, the board acted on sound legal advice.

A report on the Fin24 site notes that the insurer is back in court to defend itself against Moyo's application to have the company declared to be in contempt of court.

This is because, after Judge Brian Mashile ordered Old Mutual to temporarily reinstate Moyo in July 2019, it refused him entry into its offices.

But the company is arguing that it did reinstate him on paper by reinstating his contract and paying him for a six-month notice period.

Old Mutual's lawyer, Gilbert Marcus, said Zuma had made egregious attacks on the Constitutional Court, calling its processes a sham.

He had attacked the legal system and adopted a boycott strategy by refusing to participate or make submissions when invited to do so, Marcus added.

Judge Joseph Raulinga said that, by giving Zuma a jail sentence for contempt of court, the Constitutional Court had drawn a line in the sand on how such matters must be treated. And lower courts had to toe that line.

‘But we can only toe the line if there are similarities… but we'll have to actually check, and cross-check and see where the similarities are and where the distinctions in that particular case,’ said Raulinga.

Full report on the Fin24 site