Labour court rules in favour of axed Prasa boss

The labour court has paved the way for axed Prasa CEO Zolani Matthews to possibly make a return to the state-owned entity as it ruled that his contract was still in force and set aside the rail agency’s review application of an arbitration ruling made in his favour.

Matthews was fired in 2021 for holding dual citizenship, which the entity said at the time was a material breach of his contract that he failed to disclose.

He was chair of the Ports Regulator of SA and served as an SA Post Office board member.

Months later, the arbitrator, retired judge Robert Nugent, ruled that the ailing Prasa should reinstate Matthews with back pay.

Prasa ignored this ruling and instead applied for a stay of the arbitration award. The rail agency also applied to the labour court to review Nugent’s award.

The labour court, in a judgment handed down on Monday, set aside Prasa’s review application and said Matthews’ “fixed contract remains extant [and that] this is not a case where the arbitrator or court would be reviving an expired fixed-term contract”. It also made the arbitration award an order of the court as it slapped Prasa with legal costs. 

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