Johannesburg - The Public Servants Association (PSA) has found itself embroiled in a dismissal scandal involving an employee who worked for the union, was fired, and now has to return to work following a Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) ruling.
Maxwell Sebati was fired as the union’s deputy general manager only a few days into his job.
The Star understands that Sebati had not been seeing eye to eye with the president of the union and that the two even had an altercation that became public because of its intensity.
Sources close to the matter have told “The Star” that a battle for jobs had erupted at the PSA and that union leaders wanted to place their preferred candidate in certain positions.
The Star has seen a CCMA ruling that Sebati should return to his position and that he had been unfairly dismissed.
“It is abundantly clear that the applicant had been dismissed without any notice whatsoever. Having established that there was dismissal, the LRA at section 188 (1) states that a dismissal that is automatically unfair is unfair if the employer fails to prove (a) reason for dismissal is a fair reason (i) related to the employee’s conduct or capacity,” the document said.
The CCMA further found that the PSA should not have fired Sebati without at least giving him time to defend himself against their decision to fire him. It said the general manager was responsible for the appointment of the DGM and that the board had oversight of the GM.
“There is no evidence before me to suggest that the applicant had conspired or played an untoward role in this appointment. It is therefore my considered view that the applicant had been employed by the respondent as the DGM.”
According to the CCMA document, Sebati was employed at the beginning of June this year and dismissed in the third week of the month. He was not even paid.
“The applicant had prayed for reinstatement, and there is nowhere in the evidence that the respondent has suggested that reinstatement of the applicant could be impractical as reinstatement in primary remedy. I am inclined to order that the applicant be reinstated in his position of DGM,” the CCMA said.
The CCMA ordered that Sebati be paid five months’ back pay. The PSA would now pay more than R1 million for the five months of work, and Sebati was ordered to return to work at the beginning of the new year.
The Star had sent questions to the PSA on the matter, but no response had been received.
The Star