A former social worker at Orlando Children’s Home (OCH), Joy Dlakavu, has drafted an affidavit to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) demanding more than R200 000 from the non-profit organisation following “unfair dismissal”.
Dlakavu alleges that her dismissal was a smear campaign to cover up a sexual abuse matter at the children’s home and an attempt to hide from bad publicity for both the organisation and sponsor.
Dlakavu was fired after reporting a sexual harassment case of a minor to the police.
She challenged her dismissal by going to the CCMA where she received an award to return to work.
In her affidavit, she states that the OCH director, Mirriam Mazibuko, wanted to appeal the award but later wrote a letter in April asking why she was not reporting for duty and notified her of possible retrenchment before the end of that month.
Dlakavu said all she wanted was for the CCMA to issue a settlement award of an equivalent amount to her monthly salary for the next 12 months, adding to a total of R215 072.76.
She said the children’s home has tried by all means to get rid of her for ensuring that the sexual assault case was reported to the police. This made her realise that there would be no harmony in the workplace even if she were to return.
“It is my contention, based on the facts submitted above, that the way my employment was terminated on economic operational requirements lacked substantive and procedural fairness,” says Dlakavu in the affidavit.
“The manner, timing, and circumstances around my [dismissal] give me reasons to believe that there is a nexus between my dismissal and the way I handled the allegations of sexual abuse of a minor against my colleague.
“The fact that the organisation has not lived up to its mandate and supported the minor in this entire ordeal suggests a cover-up on their behalf, and that my conduct could have raffled feathers.”
She added that her dismissal lacked substantive and procedural fairness, as it allegedly failed to meet the requirements set forth under section 189 of the Labour Relations Act (LRA).
“Alternatively, that my dismissal was an attempt to punish me for encouraging the complainant to report the case to the SAPS [SA Police Service], which amounts to a dismissal that contravenes section 5[2] [c][v] of the LRA read together with section 187[1] of the same act, and thus amounting to an automatically unfair dismissal in terms of the LRA,” she says in the affidavit.
She further claimed that lack of transparency from her employer has also failed to prove the fairness of the dismissal.
Dlakavu highlighted that she was the only employer out of a total of 32 employees at Orlando Children’s Home who was dismissed on economic operational requirements and this meant, to her, that she is being unfairly discriminated on arbitrary grounds.
“I am mindful of the fact that there is an irretrievable breach of trust between me and my employer since we have tried reinstatement of my services as a remedy, which did not bear fruits.
“I’m therefore of the opinion that the only viable remedy is that we reach a settlement with my employer of an amount equivalent to my monthly salary for the next 12 months.”
Mazibuko said she has been a social worker since 1973 and it did not make sense to her that she would want to abuse a child.
She said the reputation of OCH is hanging loose and the organisation is on the verge of losing sponsors because of accusations that the organisation covered up a sexual harassment case.
“We have nothing against her, she is a very good worker but we implemented the ‘last one in, first one out rule’, and this meant that she has to leave because she has been with us for a shorter time. The other social worker has been with us for more than 10 years,” said Mazibuko.
“She has been with us for three years but the damage caused is a lot, attempting to bring down an organisation that has been running since around 1940.
“This is not a personal matter and this was explained to her at CCMA. She was bringing up issues that she is the sole breadwinner but the truth is, we cannot hold on to her without the subsidy from DSD [Department of Social Development].”
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