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HomeMedico-LegalUnfairly dismissed health manager wants Western Cape Health MEC charged

Unfairly dismissed health manager wants Western Cape Health MEC charged

A Western Cape nursing manager who was unfairly dismissed wants Western Cape Health and the province's Health MEC Nomafrench Mbombo charged with contempt of court for their failure to reinstate her four months after the Labour Court ordered them to do so.

Sunday Times Dailyy reports Thandeka Mdekazi, who was clinical programme co-ordinator for community-based services in Khayelitsha until she was fired three years ago, said the department offered her a job as a professional nurse in spite of judge Andre le Grange’s 7 July order that she be reinstated.

In an opposing affidavit, Willem Small for the health department said its interpretation of “retrospective” reinstatement differed from Mdekazi’s. “[Her] view was that retrospectively refers to the date of dismissal and the department interpreted it to mean the date stated in the judgment, namely July 1 2020.

“The applicant and the department then engaged in settlement negotiations as a result of the department not being able to accommodate the applicant in the previous position … These settlement negotiations were unsuccessful, as the applicant requested payment until she reached pensionable age.” Small said Mdekazi also rejected a settlement offer of a year’s salary as well as the offer of reinstatement as a professional nurse.

During court proceedings on 20 November, Le Grange said if Mbombo was found guilty of contempt of court she could be imprisoned or fined. Le Grange reserved judgment and ordered the department to reinstate Mdekazi’s salary, backdated to 1 July.

Full Sunday Times Daily report (subscription needed)

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