Hopolang Mokhopi
SUSPENDED Refugee and Migration Liaison Officer, Nthatisi Thabane, is challenging the Ministry of Local Government, Chieftainship, Home Affairs and Police’s decision to disqualify her from the race to fill the Commissioner of Refugees position, despite having made it into the top three finalists.
Ms Thabane, who acted as Commissioner of Refugees from October 2024, claims her suspension was a calculated move aimed at eliminating her from contention for the senior government post.
She was suspended on 24 June 2025 by the ministry’s former Principal Secretary, ’Mamphaka Mabesa. The suspension letter stated only that she was being investigated for corruption and would be out of office for no more than three months.
However, Ms Thabane says she was taken aback when Dr Mabesa extended her suspension by a further three months on 16 September 2025.
“This letter is to formally inform you that, considering the ongoing investigation concerning allegations of corruption, your suspension has been extended for a period of three months with full pay. The extension is necessary to ensure a thorough and impartial investigation,” the letter read.
In her court papers, Ms Thabane states that the Refugee Commissioner’s position was advertised by the ministry in January 2025, while she was still acting in the role. She says she duly applied like any other candidate and was later sent to the United States for training under the American’s International Visitors Leadership Programme.
The Principal Secretary of the Ministry of Local Government, Chieftainship, Home Affairs and Police, the ministry itself, and the Public Service Commission (PSC) are cited as first to third respondents in her application.
Ms Thabane says that around 8 June 2025, she met the Minister of Local Government, Chieftainship, Home Affairs and Police, Lebona Lephema, to discuss delays in the issuance of refugee statuses to applicants.
“Following my meeting with the minister at his request, I was sent to Mozambique for training. I aver that around 23 June 2025, myself and two other candidates, namely Nthati Mosebi Maphathe and Monaheng Ramakatsa, underwent psychometric tests.
“On 25 June 2025, I was served with a letter placing me on suspension for a period of three months. I had written to the first respondent (Dr Mabesa) requesting permission to proceed with, and be part of, the interviews scheduled to be conducted with the third respondent (PSC) for the position of Commissioner of Refugees, but that request was denied,” she states.
Ms Thabane has now petitioned the High Court after being eliminated from the Commissioner of Refugees race, despite having been shortlisted with two other candidates.
She initially approached the Labour Court, challenging her June 2025 suspension and seeking an order to halt the recruitment process. However, she was not granted an interdict stopping the recruitment pending finalisation of her case, and the process proceeded without her participation.
She subsequently turned to the High Court after her suspension was extended in September 2025.
“It is on the basis of this second suspension that I am lodging the current application, with a view to review, correct and set aside the decision of the first respondent to suspend me.
“I aver that the provisions of the Public Service Act provide that a public servant may not be placed on suspension for a period exceeding three months without justification. The letter extending my suspension merely states that investigations are ongoing, without outlining the stage at which such investigations had reached at the time the letter was issued.
“The absence of any stated cause for the alleged corruption I am said to have been involved in resulted in my removal from the recruitment process underway at the time. It has also placed me in a precarious position, as I am being precluded from performing my duties without cause.
“The intervention I seek is to be afforded an opportunity to contest for the position as I had already done, and for due process to be followed in facilitating the same. I submit that there was a grave derogation from procedure by the first and second respondents (Dr Mabesa and the ministry) in removing me from the list of candidates to be presented to the third respondent (PSC) for consideration in filling the position of Commissioner of Refugees.
“It is a fundamental prerequisite that advancement within the public sector be based on meritocracy. I aver that the manner in which the recruitment process— which I seek to have reviewed, corrected and set aside— was conducted was not in conformity with the law, as my suspension was effected in a calculated and malicious manner to exclude me from contesting for the position,” she argues.
Ms Thabane further contends that the recruitment process was conducted contrary to the provisions of the Public Service Act and Public Service Regulations.
Dr Mabesa was replaced on 2 January 2026 by Mpopo Tšoele, who has assumed the position of Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Local Government, Chieftainship, Home Affairs and Police. Mr Tšoele is now expected to take over and represent the government in the court proceedings.
Ms Thabane intends to move her application before the High Court on 9 February 2026.