Sunday Times reports that a KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) imam who was fired for not enforcing Covid-19 rules during the height of the pandemic has failed in his bid to get his job back.

At the time, a “large number” of Port Shepstone Juma Masjid Trust congregants died. The CCMA recently ruled against Maseehullah Kajee’s bid to overturn his February 2021 dismissal and said the dismissal had not been not unfair given the circumstances of the pandemic and the urgency of the matter. The CCMA heard that pandemic protocols were breached at the mosque in a Covid hotspot in early 2021 and it was Kajee’s responsibility as the resident priest to enforce them. He broke the rules by not making audible announcements about the importance and impact of social distancing, and by his failure to enforce it and reprimand and educate congregants. Kajee approached the CCMA a month after he was fired because he believed he was dismissed without a hearing and that the trust didn't follow due process. Lawyer Pregen Govindasamy, who represented the trust, said peremptory requirements in terms of the Disaster Management Act were placed on Kajee, as a religious leader, before convening a religious gathering. “The applicant wilfully disregarded these requirements,” Govindasamy indicated. The CCMA arbitrator found that “taking into account the totality of the circumstances surrounding the dismissal of the applicant, it is my finding on a balance of probabilities that the dismissal was substantively fair.” Kajee’s attorney said his client would take the matter on review.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Nivashni Nair at Sunday Times (subscriber access only)

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