Human settlements Minister, Mmamoloko Kubayi, has been found by the Labour Court to have unlawfully dismissed an employee because the Minister got stuck in an elevator for just over an hour.
Kubayi posted on a WhatsApp group on March 14 that she was stuck in an elevator and was informed that the responsible person had already left work.
The Deputy Director of Corporate Services, Nelly Letsholonyane, immediately contacted the acting Director of Facilities and Security, who advised her to contact the elevator company which dispatched a technician to the building.
Letsholonyane communicated with other relevant people to resolve the situation.
The next day the Minister ‘issued [her] with a letter of intention to dismiss, for her alleged gross negligence that threatened the lives of employees’.
The letter said that Letsholonyane had faced various disciplinary processes including some predating Kubayi’s appointment to the Department of Human Settlements.
On 3 April, Letsholonyane was given an ultimatum by the Minister to be dismissed, face a disciplinary hearing or take early retirement. She opted, under protest, to retire.
The dismissal letter accused Letsholonyane of gross dishonesty, gross misconduct or gross negligence ‘which could have result (sic) in a loss of lives’.
Letsholonyane was dismissed with immediate effect.
The Labour Court held that the Minister acted as complainant, witness, initiator, and referee. She had decided on Letsholonyane’s guilt and the sanction of dismissal.
The dismissal was declared to be in breach of the employment contract, and the Minister was prohibited from summarily dismissing Letsholonyane without following proper procedure. She was ordered to pay costs.
The Court ordered that Letsholonyane be reinstated.