Eskom employee's appeal bid dismissed by Labour Court

The Labour Court in Johannesburg has dismissed a former Eskom employee’s attempt to overturn his dismissal, ruling that his late application could not be condoned.

Lucky Ngobeni had applied to review an arbitration award in favour of Eskom and sought condonation for filing outside the prescribed six-week period.

Ngobeni told the court he did not have funds to instruct an attorney and claimed delays by his union, the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA), prevented the review application from being launched earlier.

The judge noted that the applicant failed to provide a full explanation" for the period of several delays between February 2022 and November 2022.

The court also highlighted that “a claim of lack of funds on its own cannot constitute reasonable explanation for the delay,” citing prior precedent.

Ngobeni had not explained “why he could not approach friends and relatives to assist with payment of his legal fees”.

The dismissal was over promoting a family member’s business within Eskom.

Eskom opposed the application, submitting that Ngobeni’s dismissal was justified and his conduct “went to the root of the employment relationship deserving of the severest sanction”.

The court agreed, referring to similar case law: “This cannot be faulted. In fact, it would be unfair to expect the appellant to retain [the employee] in its employ where [he] had not only displayed gross misconduct in failing to comply with statutory regulations but also contravened the duty to act in good faith by promoting [a family member’s] business … thereby compromising fairness and honesty within the appellant’s business relationships.”

The judge noted that “the applicant has not succeeded in showing good cause entitling him to be pardoned for his failure to comply with the period prescribed for the filing of review applications.”

Regarding costs, the court ruled that “it is in the interests of the law and fairness that each party be burdened with its own costs”.

IOL