City Press reports that the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) has failed at the first hurdle to find conciliation between the EFF and its former employee Frans James.
The primary basis of the case is James’ contestation of his dismissal due to misconduct, but another major issue raised relates to a dispute over his salary. The commissioner issued a certificate for the case to be postponed and so the matter will move to the arbitration stage at the next sitting on 24 February. The first hearing was in Bloemfontein on Friday when James was represented by the SA Liberated Public Sector Workers’ Union. The EFF’s human resources manager, Nomhle Ngcobo, appeared on behalf of the party. James previously told City Press that he was dismissed after demanding to be paid back more than R500,000 in deductions made by the party since September 2016 when he was employed by the red berets. He claimed the EFF paid him only R20,000 of that amount and, after tax, he took home R17,186. He said this meant that the EFF deducted R14,500 every month for the three years he was employed by the party. He also claimed that the party withheld his bonuses that were due every January. In a letter dated 12 December, the party said James was being dismissed for “gross misconduct involving negative social media remarks that bring disrepute to the EFF”. In addition to his CCMA case, James is preparing an unfair labour practice case and his lawyer will apparently be submitting papers to the Labour Court.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Queenin Masuabi at City Press
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