MINISTER of Trade and Industry Rob Davies will not renew the contract of National Consumer Commissioner Mamodupi Mohlala-Mulaudzi, which expires on September 3.
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Mr Davies’ decision was communicated to Ms Mohlala-Mulaudzi and her lawyers on Friday, his department said on Monday.
The minister again said he preferred an open competitive process to fill the position and declined to accede to Ms Mohlala-Mulaudzi's request for an automatic renewal of her contract.
The National Consumer Tribunal has slammed the commission on a number of high-profile cases in a report, claiming that procedures were not properly followed and that the drafting of legal documents was inadequate.
Mr Davies and Ms Mohlala-Malaudzi had been battling over whether he had to reappoint her for a full five-year term.
Last week, the Labour Court found in favour of the minister and stipulated that he had the right not to reappoint her.
Members of Parliament’s trade and industry committee last week described the breakdown between Mr Davies and Ms Mohlala-Mulaudzi as the worst such incident they had yet experienced.
"In my 17 years in Parliament, I have never come across such animosity between two entities, between the executive (the minister) and a government entity (the consumer commission)," trade and industry committee chairperson Joanna Fubbs said on Friday.
The committee had met to hear the commission’s response to the report compiled by the National Consumer Tribunal to the Department of Trade and Industry. However, Ms Mohlala-Malaudzi did not appear after having phoned saying she was ill.
This meant, said Ms Fubbs, that the commissioner had failed to appear three times on set dates before the committee, adding that it had to meet this week to deliberate the issue.
She also suggested that the committee may have to find time for the department, tribunal and commission to come together and iron out their differences.
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