CWAO IN THE NEWS

This unprecedented move was made by the labour court in Johannesburg last Thursday, in which it demanded that Evan Linley, Michael Linley and Karien Stassen, who are directors of Integrated Business Solutions (IBSOL), present themselves in court in November to give reasons why they should not be arrested and imprisoned.

The case centres on Vusumuzi Hlophe, 47, who took the company to court for unfair dismissal in 2022, which ruled in his favour; however, the company failed to comply with the ruling. Hlophe, who had worked at WAM Metals in Benoni through IBSOL for 15 years as a machine operator, said he was fired in September 2021 for questioning his working conditions and pay.

Court papers filed by the company claim Hlophe was let go for poor performance and disrespecting his supervisor. However, in 2022, the Metal and Engineering Industries Bargaining Council (MEIBC) ruled that his dismissal was “substantively unfair” and ordered his reinstatement.

“The dismissal of the applicant, Mr Vusumuzi Phidries Hlophe, is procedurally fair and substantively unfair. The respondent, Integrated Business Solutions (Pty) Ltd, is ordered to reinstate the applicant, Mr Vusumuzi Phidries Hlophe, in his employment on terms and conditions no less favourable to him than those that governed the employment relationship immediately before his dismissal.

The reinstatement is to operate with effect from 28 October 2022 and it is without back pay. Mr Vusumuzi Phidries Hlophe is to tender his services to the respondent on 10 November 2022. Upon arrival of the applicant at work to tender his services, the respondent must issue the applicant with a final written warning valid for six months,” the order read.

However, when Hlophe reported for duty, he said security officers at the Benoni site blocked him from entering, saying they had been instructed not to allow him inside. He escalated the matter to court.

In November 2023, the labour court found the three directors guilty of contempt of court for failing to comply with the reinstatement order.

They were fined R150,000 and suspended for 30 days, on condition that Hlophe was reinstated. The directors neither reinstated him nor paid the fine. As a result, the court last week ordered them to appear on November 11 to explain why they should not be jailed for contempt of court.

Evan, one of the directors, told Sowetan they cannot comment on the matter. “The current matter is sub judice; it is under pending litigation in the labour court, and as a result, I cannot provide any comments related to the matter.”

In 2024, Lawyers for Human Rights took on Hlophe's case, accusing the company of deliberately delaying justice.

Attorney David Dickinson said the company had employed a “Stalingrad strategy” using every possible legal tactic to avoid complying with the court’s orders.

“This has been a long and difficult legal struggle with the company employing a string of tactics to defy the court. Finally, we have hope that this defiance of the law will end and that Mr Hlophe will get the justice he deserves,” said Dickinson.

Hlophe told Sowetan he raised two main concerns before his dismissal: the heavy workload and confusion over who his real employer was, as the company frequently changed labour brokers without notifying workers.

“In the years I worked there, I ran three machines alone and was also the night shift quality controller. We were treated like parcels passed from one labour broker to another. We were never told when agents changed and sometimes we didn’t even sign new contracts. I asked for clarity because I feared we could one day just wake up unemployed. That is when my problems started,” he said.

The father of four said the dismissal left his family devastated. He has since moved back to his rural home in eDumbe, KwaZulu-Natal, where he survives on his elderly mother’s grant and a vegetable garden.

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Category: MEDIA COVERAGE | LABOUR RIGHTS