Man sues municipality R17m for not hiring him for EPWP job

A R17m lawsuit against a municipality has gone nowhere after the court dismissed an application by an unemployed man who has been described as a persistent litigant.

Thabang Motjamela had approached the Western Cape High Court seeking damages from the Garden Route district municipality, sitting in George, over its failure to permanently employ him following his involvement in the expanded public works programme (EPWP).

He claimed he was shortlisted for a position as a senior worker in 2021 and was sent for a medical examination in anticipation of being employed. However, he was ultimately not appointed, apparently because of his criminal record.

Motjamela argued that he had disclosed his criminal record before undergoing the medical examination but was nevertheless led to believe he would be successful. He sought compensation for:

His calculations for his earnings stretched all the way to his projected retirement in 2054.

The court described the application as “stillborn”, “bare and vague”, concluding that no case had been made out for the relief sought

The judgment shows that his original salary claim, according to his own calculations, amounted to more than R32,285 per month before income tax. The amount included bonuses and provident fund contributions.

But judge Phillipa Susan Van Zyl was unimpressed with the manner in which the case was brought before the court. She said Motjamela’s claims were not suited to motion proceedings because several issues would require oral evidence.

“The applicant’s claims are generally not determinable on affidavit,” the judge said, adding that the information provided in the papers was sparse and lacked supporting documentation.

The court described the application as “stillborn”, “bare and vague”, concluding that no case had been made out for the relief sought. But the judgment also opened another chapter in Motjamela’s lengthy legal history on the same matter with the same municipality.

Motjamela has previously taken his fight over EPWP contracts to several forums, where the matter failed, including:

The ConCourt described the cases collectively as a pattern of “wanton and reckless litigation”. Despite this, Van Zyl declined to order him to pay costs

He was eventually declared a vexatious litigant in relation to the George local municipality, a decision later confirmed by the Constitutional Court.

The ConCourt has previously described his litigation as a “relentless campaign”. It noted that since 2023, Motjamela had brought four applications before it, including three applications for leave to appeal and an application for direct access. Several of these were dismissed for lack of reasonable prospects of success or because no case had been made out.

The apex court also noted that after an order was issued in May, it received four further applications from Motjamela relating to his employment disputes, noted Van Zyl’s judgement.

The ConCourt described the cases collectively as a pattern of “wanton and reckless litigation”. Despite this, Van Zyl declined to order him to pay costs. She said she had considered imposing a costs order to discourage Motjamela from pursuing similar litigation, but was reluctant to do so because he was unemployed, an indigent and his family was in poor financial circumstances.

The judge said Motjamela’s previous vexatious-litigant declaration had apparently only made him “more steadfast in his search for what he regards as justice”.