It’s now eleven years since I was “sacked” from the Sunday Times for writing a “racist” column which the editor chose to publish.
The editor at the time, Mondli Makhanya, claimed that the column had “slipped through the system” but when my lawyers asked how it came to have a headline on it (I had never written my own headline in 14 years) there was an uncomfortable shuffling of feet on his part.
I mention this because I have now moved into my twelfth year of legal action against the Sunday Times for wrongful dismissal with still no end in sight. I initially demanded a front page apology and R150 000 (the maximum payment the CCMA could have imposed) to be donated to a charity of my choice.
The Sunday Times weren’t feeling particularly charitable at the time so we rolled into litigation with the case being referred up to the Labour Court and then ping-ponged back to the CCMA and it’s currently with the Labour Court of Appeal. When they realised that they didn’t have any credible answers to my lawyer’s questions, my former employers decided to spare their blushes in court and go for a delaying tactic by claiming that I wasn’t an employee but an independent contractor. This despite the facts that I had a desk in the newsroom for ten years, a dedicated telephone number, a Sunday Times e.mail address, had UIF deducted, was answerable to an employer, had to submit work on time etc etc.
Just after my sacking by telephone while I was MC-ing an event in Sandton, the HR department of the Sunday Times, realising that correct procedure hadn’t been followed, sent off a formal letter giving me 30 days notice, thanking me for my past contributions and wishing me well for the future. Oddly, there was not a single mention of the heinous crime that had allegedly brought the mighty Sunday Times into such disrepute.
At a hearing on September 1st 2010 at the offices of Fluxman’s Attorneys in Rosebank the Sunday Times asked permission for fresh evidence to be introduced after the lunchtime recess. We didn’t object and the fresh evidence was duly introduced. It turned out to be a photocopy of an employment contract with Fred Khumalo dated 2004, intended to demonstrate that my conditions were different to Khumalo’s and that, ergo, I must have been an independent contractor. The only problem was that the “contract” was on Avusa notepaper and Avusa didn’t exist in 2004. Someone had presumably been busy with the photo copier while my attorney and I were enjoying a good steak over the lunchtime recess.
When one party does something a bit naughty like this it means that the onus is on the aggrieved party to sort things out and apply for a new hearing. Another great delaying tactic.
My attorney asked Khumalo for the original contract and was told that Mr Khumalo had just had builders in and, surprise, couldn’t locate the original contract. It’s well known that builders in Joburg steal people’s contracts of employment given half the chance; a real “dog ate my homework” excuse if ever there was one. Khumalo and Makhanya then produced sworn affidavits attesting that the 2004 contract was genuine.
A few months later we laid a criminal complaint against Makhanya for fraud and perjury (my limited legal knowledge tells me that a sworn affidavit is supposed to be truthful) but the Rosebank police informed me that they weren’t going to investigate the case. I responded that there was nothing to investigate since he had sworn in front of a commissioner of oaths that a document he knew to be forged was genuine. As was to be expected, nothing happened and the editor of a large Sunday newspaper was able to get away with the sort of dodgy behaviour his newspaper finds so repellent in others.
And so the case drags on and on and once we’ve established that I wasn’t an independent contractor we go back to square one and look at the original case for wrongful dismissal.
My experience of the legal system in this country doesn’t fill me with hope. Apart from being unnecessarily slow and ponderous it’s by no means certain that an entity as devious as the Sunday Times would observe a court ruling. The adage that justice must be swift and be seen to be done seems to be just that – an adage. Taking on corporate bullies certainly isn’t for the faint hearted.
Being labeled a “racist” by such an unreliable news source as the Sunday Times has been the least of my worries. What has irritated me though is the collateral damage and the resultant loss of corporate business over the past eleven years. I had very profitable business relations with many large companies prior to the “sacking” ( I had, in fact, resigned two days earlier but my editor refused to accept my resignation). Much of that disappeared in a puff of smoke after April 10th 2008 although, I am delighted to say, that there were a hard core of loyal supporters who continued to use my services, much to the chagrin of the envious lefty journos who had been wetting themselves with joy over my “sacking”.
I was lucky. Suspecting that political pressure would eventually be brought to bear on the Sunday Times to get rid of me I had made adequate financial arrangements over the years to cover such an eventuality. Many people are not so fortunate and, when they are unfairly labelled “racist” by some embittered left-wing lunatic with a grudge, stand to lose everything they have worked for. And if they think the justice system will redress the balance then maybe they should think again. Some of us can wear the “racist” tag as a badge of honour implying, as it does, that we are prepared to flout politically correct protocol and tell things as we see them. Most people don’t have that luxury however, which is why freedom of speech has become the exclusive domain of the privileged few who have nothing to lose.
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