A senior official in the ANC-run Msunduzi local municipality in Pietermaritzburg in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands is back at her desk after winning back her job 18 months after she was unfairly fired.
Nomfundo Hlophe was unfairly fired as the Senior Manager for Legal Services in November 2023, and she took the matter to the SALGA bargaining council in Durban, which has since ruled in her favour by setting aside the expulsion.
Municipality ordered to back pay manager
The cash-strapped municipality will now have to back pay her for the 18 months she spent idling at home, and it is believed her pay would run into millions.
Hlophe’s trouble started in May 2021 when the municipality accused her of recommending the hiring of a candidate only identified as Ms Gasa, who was not the top scorer during interviews. The municipality said that amounted to gross negligence and charged her.
During the hearing at the bargaining council, it was pointed out that Hlophe was singled out for nefarious reasons, as the other officials who were panellists were never charged.
It was also argued that the panel members could exercise their discretion in recommending candidates they deemed suitable, and there is nothing in the municipality’s policies that compelled the panel to recommend the highest-ranked candidate.
Furthermore, it was noted that the panel’s decision was only a recommendation that still had to be approved by the relevant authorities.
Employer’s inconsistent application of rules
At the time of making the recommendations, Hlophe was also not aware that the candidate that was recommended misrepresented herself by failing to disclose her criminal record.
“The respondent also acted inconsistently in applying its rules or disciplinary code in that: [Faith] Ndlovu (senior HR officer and the chairperson of the panel), also a panel member, was not disciplined. Only the applicant (Hlophe) and Gasa were dismissed,” the bargaining council noted in its ruling.
It also became glaring that Hlophe was a target, as the bargaining council noted that NP Khathide, the then city manager and accounting officer of the municipality, also signed the recommendation, but he also was not hauled over the coals.
“Even if I did find that the applicant committed serious misconduct, which I don’t, the conduct of the respondent in not disciplining Ndlovu, would in any event render the dismissal of the applicant substantively unfair, especially since both the applicant and Ndlovu were members of the same panel and acted jointly in recommending Gasa.
“‘Even after the reconvened meeting on the 20th of July 2021, both Ndlovu and the applicant supported the request for a legal opinion, which request was drafted by Ndlovu,” reads part of the ruling of the council handed down by Commissioner Leon Pillay.
