Pretoria - A cellphone cost a miner his job after he was fired for entering an underground area where he worked despite the fact that cellphones were forbidden past that point as they posed a risk of explosion.
Neo Motswadi was fired from the Sibanye Platinum Mine as he transgressed the rules regarding cellphones. While he did admit that he had his phone with him, he felt that he was dealt with unfairly by being fired.
He took the issue on arbitration to the CCMA, but the arbitrator upheld his dismissal on a charge of misconduct in the form of breaching a workplace rule against the possession of contraband in a demarcated non-contraband area.
Aggrieved by this, he turned to the Labour Court in Joburg to have the arbitration award set aside.
The arbitrator found that it was common cause that Motswadi had entered the workplace through the lamp room underground and that he had been found with a cellphone on the walkway to the underground area.
It was also not disputed that there was a notice board at the entrance to the lamp room, notifying employees of the prohibition of contraband.
Motswadi had admitted that while it was not his intention to do so, he had entered a non-contraband zone with a cellphone.
In confirming his dismissal, the arbitrator reasoned that Motswadi was aware of the danger of bringing contraband into the prohibited area, and that this could lead to an explosion.
Motswadi, however, maintained that being fired was harsh under the circumstances.
He said he knew about the danger of bringing contraband into the prohibited area and that a cellphone underground in that area could lead to an explosion.
He further mentioned that he knew employees who had been dismissed for that offence and he thus appreciated the seriousness of the misconduct for which he was dismissed.
Judge Andre van Niekerk, sitting in the Labour Court, said he could not fault the dismissal, as Motswadi said he appreciated the fact that bringing a cellphone into that area underground, could pose a danger to him and his co-workers.
“I therefore conclude that under the circumstances, dismissal is an appropriate sanction. The evidence discloses that a contravention of the contraband rule is a serious offence, for which the penalty of dismissal is ordinarily the consequence.
“The rule exists to satisfy stringent safety requirements at the mine, and is specifically designed to avoid injury and fatality in an industry that is inherently dangerous,” the judge said.
Pretoria News