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Sunday World reports that Patrice Motsepe’s mining company showed the CCMA the middle finger when it failed to appear for a case of unfair medical retrenchment after it laid off a bodyguard who had sustained injuries.
African Rainbow Minerals (ARM) ignored the CCMA’s instruction to appear before a commissioner on 14 February to justify its decision to retrench Albert Muleya, who fractured his right thumb at the joint on 30 April 2021 while protecting Motsepe’s son Kabelo in a fight that broke out in Hi-Grow Cafe nightclub in Hatfield, Pretoria. As a result of ARM’s defiance, the CCMA referred Muleya’s case to the Labour Court for trial. Muleya had started working for ARM in November 2012 as a reaction unit security officer. After the injury, he underwent surgery and physiotherapy, during which period he was placed on special leave. ARM then accommodated Muleya with light duty activities, but later insisted that he return to normal duties. An occupational therapist subsequently advised that Muleya would have to be placed on permanent light duty. ARM then agreed to retain Muleya on light duty while considering suitable vacancies to accommodate him. On 29 September 2023, Muleya received a letter of retrenchment from ARM advising that, despite consultations, no alternative to retrenchment was viable. Muleya, who was earning over R37,000 per month, received a severance package of R163,338. According to Muleya, his dismissal was procedurally and substantively unfair. He is demanding his job back or appropriate compensation. He filed the case in court in March, but a date for trial had not yet been allocated.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Setumo Stone & Ngwako Malatji at Sunday World
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