COPE office bearer to challenge suspension from Free State government post
A senior official in the Free State provincial government who was suspended for allegedly "disrespecting" President Jacob Zuma, has decided to challenge his suspension in the Labour Court. Teboho Loate, chief director in the provincial department of sports, art and culture, said in his founding affidavit that the president was not his employer, so any utterances he made were not a breach of his employment contract. Loate was suspended in early May after being initially accused, in a precautionary suspension letter dated April 24, of making "utterances" in which he "displayed flagrant disrespect to the president". He asked for more information about the nature of the alleged utterances, which he apparently made on April 12. However, such information was not provided in a reply to him by the head of department Stanley Malope. Instead Malope informed him of his immediate suspension. Loate, who is also the acting national treasurer of the Congress of the People (COPE), had attended the ...
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