Kanime matter back in City’s hands

JANA-MARI SMITH
In an unexpected turn of events, lawyers representing City Police chief Abraham Kanime and the City’s CEO and council, this morning managed to craft a last-minute agreement on the way forward before proceedings for an urgent application officially started.
The agreement, which was reached at the urging of High Court Judge Harald Geier, compels the City council to hold a special meeting on or before 22 May to decide whether or not to uplift Kanime’s suspension, which is approaching the one-and-a-half-year mark.
Moreover, the agreement, which was made an order of the court, compels the parties involved in Kanime’s pending disciplinary hearing, to set a date for the proceedings to continue. The date must be set on, or before, 22 May.
The parties reached the terms of the agreement in the wake of a suggestion by Judge Geier, who at the outset of court proceedings this morning, said he would first “give the parties the opportunity to first speak to each other”.
Geier explained that based on a perusal of the documents provided to the court before today’s urgent application, “a picture emerges that makes me wonder why this matter is incapable of a resolution”.
He said at the crux of the matter rested on setting a date to finalise Kanime’s pending disciplinary hearing and to decide whether to uplift his suspension.
He urged the parties to engage in brief negotiations to consider “whether there is room for negotiations”, before continuing with arguments on the urgent application if still required.
Following brief talks between the lawyers, the parties informed Judge Geier that they had managed to agree on the way forward “for the time being”.
As a result of the agreement reached, Judge Geier made an order that CEO Robert Kahimise and the City council ensure a special council meeting is convened not later than 22 May, at which the City council is to “consider and resolve whether or not Kanime’s suspension should be uplifted”.
The second order is that all parties involved in the pending disciplinary process against Kanime agree on or before 22 May on a date for the continuation of the disciplinary proceedings.
The costs of the application are to stand over for later determination, and the case was postponed to 5 June for a status hearing.
Kanime was represented by Sisa Namandje while Orben Sibeya instructed Advocate Raymond Heathcote to appear on behalf of Kahimise and the City council.