The CFO of North West Development Corporation, Kuda Mpofu, is fighting tooth and nail to stop the Department of Home Affairs from deporting him to Zimbabwe after allegations that he fraudulently obtained his permanent residence permit in South Africa.
Mpofu has filed papers in the high court of Pretoria to force home affairs Minister Aron Motsoaledi and his director-general Tommy Makhode to declare his residence documents valid.
This was after he won the first round of his battle with the two in the same court which gave him an interim order to stop them from deporting him in June last year.
He obtained the order after the two failed to file a notice of intent to oppose his application.
Judge Rochelle Francis-Subbiar, who presided over the case, gave the department a 60-day deadline to confirm or dispute Mpofu’s permanent residence permit, but it missed it.
Mpofu has since taken the matter back to court, due to be heard on May 9, in which he argued that Motsoaledi and Makhode were in contempt of court by insisting on wanting to deport him.
He has also applied for a declaratory order to force the duo to comply with the court order.
According to an image of home affairs records, which Sunday World has seen, Mpofu’s permanent resident permit was alleged to have been “fraudulently obtained”.
The image reads as follows:
“You are a prohibited person and has (sic) no right to residence in the country. You must surrender all documentation indicating you as a permanent resident to your office and make the necessary arrangements to leave the country of (sic) be deported,” read the official notice.
But Mpofu disagreed.
In court papers prepared for the upcoming hearing, Mpofu submitted that Motsoaledi and Makhode did not oppose the June 2023 court application, even though they were properly served with all the relevant papers. Neither a notice of intention to oppose nor an answering affidavit was filed, he said.
He claimed that the notice of motion and founding affidavit were served on March 27, 2023, and March 17, 2023, respectively; the notice of set-down
was served on May 25, 2023, June 2, 2023, and May 26, 2023, respectively.
He also said the court order was served on July 25, 2023, and July 20, 2023, respectively.
“It is unfortunately so that both respondents have elected to demonstrate disregard and disrespect towards the stated annexed court order, by not abiding by what the honourable justice specifically ordered,” Mpofu argued.
He continued: “I submit that, despite being patently aware of the current unopposed application and despite accurate and proper service from the respective sheriffs divisions, the respondents rather elected to litigate the current unopposed application via correspondence, commonly referred to as “litigation via correspondence.”
He said that instead of opposing the June 2023 application, home affairs opted for an “ambush technique” or “litigation through ambush” by writing to his lawyers three days before the hearing was due to sit, in a bid to derail the application.
He mentioned an email his lawyers received, dated June 26, and a letter dated June 23.
“At this juncture, it is extremely important for the honourable court to take cognisance of the fact that both these letters were forwarded to my attorneys via email, literally three days prior to my application being heard on the unopposed motions roll, in the above-stated honourable court on June 29, 2023.”
Mpofu also alleged that he was never informed of his rights, in line with the law, to petition Motsoaledi to review the decision. “They rather elected to inform me that I am a prohibited person and have no right to residence in the country… and leave the country…”
He said that efforts by his lawyers to request recourse were ignored.
Questions sent to the department had not been answered by the time of going to print.
