FORMER NetOne chief executive Reward Kangai’s bid to block the recruitment of his successor following his unceremonious exit from the state-owned mobile phone operator last year suffered a major blow after the High Court reserved judgement on his urgent chamber application filed last Friday.

He was also challenging the legality of the termination of his employment contractKangai was sent on forced leave in March 2016 after the company’s board sanctioned a forensic audit into the affairs of the country’s second largest mobile phone operator.

He was suspended from work without pay and benefits on October 3 after an external auditor PriceWaterhouseCoopers completed a board-sanctioned probe into the goings-on at the mobile phone operator.

However, Justice Priscilla Chigumba on Wednesday reserved judgement on the matter.

In his urgent chamber application, Kangai said he was legally NetOne’s CE despite being forced out after NetOne decided to buy him out of his contract which was due to expire in June 2017. The closing date for the NetOne vacancy notice is May 5.

“I aver that I am still the respondent’s (NetOne Cellular Pvt Ltd) incumbent chief executive officer as respondent’s purported termination of my contract of employment is unlawful and a nullity. Moreover, the legality of the respondent’s actions is still to be determined by a court of competent jurisdictions under the applications aforementioned,” Kangai averred through his lawyers Tendai Biti Law.