SABC presidential correspondent Tshepo Ikaneng has scored a major victory against his employer after securing a reinstatement award at the CCMA (Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and arbitration) against the SABC’s wishes that his dismissal should be upheld.
Ikaneng was fired by the public broadcaster in April last year after he was accused
of disrespecting and using xenophobic comments on his line manager Busi Chimombe.
He was also accused of blowing R350 000 on data while on an overseas trip with the Presidency.
Though Ikaneng was found guilty on two of three charges, he was not found guilty on the charge of abuse of company’s phone, data and internet access, according to information submitted to the CCMA. The two charges included using abusive and derogatory language against Chimombe for calling her a foreigner who must go back home to Zimbabwe, and undermining authority emanating from his heated e-mail exchanges with his line manager
about his leave application.
However, CCMA senior commissioner Willem Koekemoer found that the public broadcaster was unfair in dismissing Ikaneng, stating that the process that led to his dismissal
was procedurally unfair. In his submission, Ikaneng argued that his outbursts against Chimombe were as a result of the SABC stopping him from undertaking overseas travels with the Presidency as per his job responsibilities.
He said he was targeted and ill-treated by senior news management who barred him from travelling long distances, including to East London in the Eastern Cape. He explained that while still waiting for an explanation on his grounding, he was suspended on allegations of fruitless and wasteful expenditure emanating from claims that he had abused his cellphone data and raked in a bill of R350 000 in a matter of a month, a charge he was later found not guilty of.
Though he admitted that his comments might have been in bad taste, he said he apologised to Chimombe during the hearing, but said his comments were instigated
by Chimombe’s comments that “South Africans are lazy” when he had asked her
to approve a rental vehicle for him to cover a Brics summit.
The SABC, through its legal representative, Maserumule Attorneys, argued that the process followed in Ikaneng’s dismissal was fair, stating that Ikaneng’s conduct warranted a summary dismissal. It also said Ikaneng was not remorseful during the hearing.
However, Koekemoer found differently, stating that Ikaneng’s dismissal was procedurally unfair because the SABC failed to seek any corrective measures before deciding on ring him. This, said Koekemoer, was despite Ikaneng being a first-time offender in terms of disciplinary records in almost 20 years working for the public broadcaster.
Koekemoer added that the SABC also failed to make available all disciplinary panel members during arbitration to testify and explain why they arrived at the decision to fire Ikaneng. He found that contrary to SABC’s submissions, Ikaneng was remorseful because
he had offered an apology to his line manager for using abusive comments against her, noting that he also accepted Ikaneng’s response that his comments were triggered by his frustrations with his situation at work.
“I find that the respondent failed to prove substantive and procedural fairness of the dismissal of the applicant,” reads Koekemoer’s judgment. He ordered that Ikaneng be reinstated to his position on the same terms and conditions effective April 24 2019, the date of his dismissal.
However, he also ruled that Ikaneng could not be awarded back pay, emphasizing
that damage to the dignity of another staff member and undermining the authority of his superior remains a serious contravention. He then ruled that Ikaneng be given a written warning.
