TVET college unfairly dismissed three employees, arbitrator finds

The South West Gauteng TVET College has been ordered to retrospectively reinstate three employees and pay back-pay equal to eight months’ salary to each after an Education Labour Relations Council (ELRC) arbitrator found they had been unfairly dismissed.

Ivy Ncube, Andile Ncube and Tsungai Shumba approached the ELRC after they received letters from the college in December last year informing them their contracts had expired.

The employees contended that they were employed on permanent contracts.

The arbitrator, Thabo Mathibedi, noted that the three employees had received migration letters from the department of higher education and training in 2015, and again in 2020, because they are foreign nationals.

They were required to submit proof of permanent residence and valid identity documents.

Ivy Ncube testified that she had been employed since 2010 as a lecturer. She initially received a letter from the college confirming that her contract was renewable until further notice.

Another letter was written by the current principal of the college in May 2023 which stated that her status was amended from contract to permanent. The principal also wrote a letter assisting her to apply for a general work permit. She got her work permit, which will expire in November 2027.

Andile Ncube, who also started working in 2010, had her contract amended from contract to permanent in 2015. Shumba, who had been employed since 2014, also had her contract amended from contract to permanent.

The college witness, Andre Schlemmer, said Shumba was on temporary employment. She was on a Zimbabwean Exemption Permit that expired on November 27 2025.

Schlemmer said the three were never employed permanently.

The college wrote 29 expiry-of-contract letters to employees who were on contract, which included South African employees whose contracts were coming to an end, he said.

During cross-examination, Schlemmer could not explain why the principal had changed the employment status of the teachers to permanent.

Mathibedi said in order for a fixed-term contract to expire, it had to exist.

“There is no evidence before me substantiating the (college’s) claim that the (employees) were on fixed-term contracts. I find that the applicants were dismissed.”

Mathibedi also found their dismissals were substantively and procedurally unfair.

However, Mathibedi said reinstatement was limited by expiry of their current work permit, visas or compliance with suspensive conditions as per the letter issued in 2020 changing their statuses from contract to permanent.

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