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The Supreme Court of Appeal has dismissed an application by former Old Mutual CEO Peter Moyo to appeal a judgment which overturned an earlier interim order temporarily reinstating him to his old job as the head of the financial services company.
Moyo was fired by Old Mutual in June 2019. A High Court judge ruled in July 2019 that Moyo's dismissal was unlawful and ordered that he be temporarily reinstated, leading to a drawn out legal battle. In January Old Mutual won its appeal against the ruling.
The SCA, in the latest ruling, found that Moyo's case had no "reasonable prospect of success" and ordered Moyo to pay costs. The ruling is a fresh legal defeat for the embattled former executive, after he also lost a bid to interdict Old Mutual from hiring a permanent CEO pending the appeal of the January ruling which found his dismissal was lawful.
Old Mutual on Monday hailed the ruling "as another important step forward in ending the litigation" mounted by Moyo against the company.
"The effect of the decision is to uphold Old Mutual’s decision to terminate Mr Moyo’s services in June last year," the company said in a statement following the court's decision.
In a brief order, the Supreme Court of Appeal said that Moyo's "application for special leave to appeal is dismissed with costs on the grounds that there are no special reasonable prospects, and that the requirements for special leave to appeal are not satisfied."
However, Moyo and his lawyer Eric Mabuza say the latest ruling does not spell the end of the road for the case.
I am not done
Speaking to Fin24 on Monday, Moyo said he still had other legal options to pursue. He declined to elaborate further on what his next move would be."I am not a worse position than I was two weeks ago," he said.
Mabuza, on the other hand, said the two options available to them would be to approach Constitutional Court to hear the matter, or to petition the President of the Supreme Court to reconsider hearing the matter.
The current legal wrangle is Part A of Moyo's legal fight. Part B of his application involves a damages claim for reputational harm against the insurer giant.
In the meantime, Old Mutual said the process of hiring a permanent CEO was on track. The company is currently led by interim CEO Ian Williamson.
