Africa-Press – South-Africa. The Labour Court has ruled that the deputy director-general of corporate services in the Department of Human Settlements, Nelly Letsholonyane, may return to work after she was fired by Minister Mamoloko Kubayi in April.
Letsolonyane approached the court with an application that it reinstate its order which ruled she could return to work. The court dismissed Kubayi’s application for leave to appeal this order because it had no prospects for success.
Letsolonyane was fired in April, one month after the minister got stuck in an elevator for more than one hour. She blamed her deputy director-general for the incident.
In a judgment from 8 August, Labour Court Judge Edwin Tlhotlhalemaje ruled that the minister and the acting director-general had “adopted a deplorable and gung-ho posture in dismissing the applicant, irrespective of the nature of the trauma the minister may have endured while stuck in an elevator”.
Tlhotlhalemaje reiterated the earlier judgment, saying the minister had acted as a “victim, prosecutor, and executioner” in dismissing the 62-year-old Letsolonyane.
He stated that Letsolonyane, who hadn’t earned a salary since her dismissal, was in a predicament because of the minister’s unlawful conduct. The judge said he believed that she would suffer further irreparable harm if she was not reinstated.
For More News And Analysis About South-Africa Follow Africa-Press
