Africa-Press – South-Africa. The constructive dismissal and unfair labour practice case brought by a former SANDF commanding officer stopped abruptly on Tuesday, even though it was set down for three days on the Cape Town Labour Court’s roll.
The application by Colonel Iqram Bux in the Labour Court was barely out of the starting blocks when it was postponed on Tuesday before he could give evidence.
This was apparently by agreement in chambers, and a date for the matter to return will be set between the judge and the lawyers.
Bux resigned from the SANDF as commanding officer of 2 Military Hospital in Wynberg, Cape Town, in May 2018.
However, in his letter of resignation, he explained that it was after a long and bitter dispute about overtime, performance bonuses, salary, and a sudden posting to Gauteng that he considered a demotion.
He went to the Labour Court alleging he was a victim of constructive dismissal (where continued employment has been made unbearable by an employer) and is demanding a year’s salary in compensation.
The case is against the minister and department of defence, the secretary of defence and the SANDF.
The SANDF denies Bux’s claims and on Tuesday cross-examined his subordinate Lieutenant-Colonel Riaz Ismail, who has spoken glowingly of Bux as a collaborative and supportive boss in earlier testimony.
But the SANDF’s counsel Marion Botma brushed aside any hint of sentiment, and whittled their defence down to military administrative processes and procedures, how overtime is claimed, and the following of orders, and adherence to “signals”.
Signals is the military word for communications between departments. The court heard that communications are transmitted to a “fax-like machine”, put in an envelope, and distributed to the intended recipients.
She also focused on how overtime works in the SA Military Health Service, the division Bux and Ismail worked in.
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She reiterated that Bux was ordered to go to the Institute for Aviation Medicine in August 2017.
“Did he report?” asked Botma of Ismail.
“No, he didn’t,” said Ismail. He added that he understood it was because Bux’s replacement, Colonel Jack Molomo, did not arrive.
The court heard that Molomo did eventually arrive at the hospital only to find Bux “in his seat”.
The mystery of what actually happened regarding Bux’s order to move to the Thaba Tshwane headquarters in Gauteng and why Molomo did not immediately arrive if that was the case, will have to wait until the case returns on the date yet-to-be announced.
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