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GroundUp reports that has taken two years for an acting judge in the Cape Town Labour Court to come to the aid of a Cape wine farm worker, who was fired after she gave an interview to a Swedish journalist about her working conditions.
Acting Judge Riyaaz Parker heard the matter in June 2021, but he only handed down judgment this week. Parker ruled that the dismissal of Claudine van Wyk in October 2020 be reconsidered by the CCMA, but by another commissioner. Van Wyk, who was represented by the Commercial Stevedoring Agricultural and Allied Workers Union, was employed as a contract general worker by W & E Boerdery, a company which exports wine to Europe. She gave an interview to a Swedish journalist in 2019 about her working and living conditions. Other workers also spoke to the journalist. In August that year, the journalist published the interview in a Swedish Magazine under the headline “Farm workers paying the prize (sic) for cheap South African wine”. It was accompanied by a photograph of Van Wyk holding up her payslip showing she earned only R684. The journalist did not give Van Wyk an opportunity to proofread the contents. The company charged her with giving a false statement and false information and she was found guilty after an internal disciplinary hearing and dismissed. Van Wyk approached the CCMA, which confirmed her dismissal in October 2020. Judge Parker pointed out the journalist had misconstrued the information and had published incorrect facts, for which Van Wyk could not be held accountable. “There was no evidence to back up the finding by the commissioner that Van Wyk had wanted to create the perception that the company was not paying properly. The commissioner did not apply his mind properly,” he said. The commissioner had also failed to take into account that only Van Wyk had been dismissed when others had been involved in the interview. The judge set aside the CCMA ruling and ordered that another commissioner should consider the evidence.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Tania Broughton at GroundUp
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