By Monwabisi Jimlongo
Moffat Qithi has delivered what could be described as a knockout blow to Boxing South Africa (BSA) after Labour Court Judge Portia Nkutha-Nkontwana dismissed the BSA board’s appeal application to review a Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) decision which had ruled in Qithi’s favour after he was fired as the boxing regulatory body’s chief executive officer in 2015.
Delivering her judgment on Friday, Nkutha-Nkontwana said: “Seven years have passed since the time Mr Qithi was dismissed and this matter is yet to be finalised. Mr Qithi, the vulnerable party, is still unemployed and held hostage by the party who had approached this Court on an unmeritorious review application.”
Qithi won his case against BSA on 17 December 2018 and the CCMA ordered that he be paid R3,9 million plus interest and also be reinstated as CEO.
The then BSA board applied for the review of the CCMA ruling on 1 February 2019 – the last day of the six weeks provided for in Section 145 of the Labour Relations Act.
Judge Nkutha-Nkontwana said on Friday: “Accordingly, I am not persuaded that there is a reasonable prospect that the factual matrix in this case might receive a different treatment at the appeal. Put differently, the applicant has failed to make a case that another Court might reasonably arrive at a decision different to the one reached by this Court. Yet, I am not inclined to award costs against the applicant. In the circumstances, the leave to appeal application is dismissed with no order to costs.”
