MBOMBELA- The Mpumalanga Division of the High Court has struck off the urgent application brought by Peter Nyoni against the Director-General and the Premier for lack of urgency.
The matter arose after Nyoni challenged the conclusion of his fixed-term employment contract in the Office of the Premier, which came to an end on 28 February 2026. He sought urgent court intervention to suspend the decision confirming the expiry of his contract and to compel continued compliance with the terms of his employment agreement.
Following the expiry of the contract in February, Nyoni lodged an urgent application at the high court in March 2026. The application was in two fold. In Part A, the applicant lodged the application as an urgent matter, while in Part B, he was challenging the legality of employment contract.
The court found amongst other matters the following:
-The application did not meet the legal threshold for urgency and was therefore improperly
brought on an urgent basis.
-The applicant ought to have been aware well in advance that his fixed-term contract would
expire on 28 February 2026.
-The letter issued by the Director-General on 4 March 2026 did not terminate the contract but
merely confirmed its expiry.
-There was no automatic right to permanent employment arising from the contract, as key
conditions for such an outcome were not met.
-The court further emphasised that even if the letter confirming the expiry were set aside, it
would not revive a contract that had already lapsed by operation of time.
The court ordered that the application be struck from the roll due to lack of urgency and the applicant, Nyoni to pay the legal costs of the respondents the Director General and the Premier, including the costs of two counsel.
