Official fired over Motsoeneng is re-hired
A TOP SABC official has been reinstated after she was dismissed from the troubled public broadcaster when she refused to pay controversial former chief operating officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng’s R11 million bonus.
The Labour Court in Braamfontein, Johannesburg, found chief financial controller Maria Campher’s dismissal was procedurally and substantively unfair after she was told there was “no room” for her in the SABC structure.
“The SABC is ordered to reinstate Ms Campher to the same or similar position to the one she occupied before her dismissal and on the same or similar terms and conditions of employment with effect from May 1, 2018,” reads Judge Portia Nkutha-nkontwana’s ruling.
She found that the public broadcaster must pay Campher full back-pay for the period between May 1, 2018 and the date of this order, which was granted on June 25, as well as pay the costs of the lawsuit.
Campher was offered a fiveyear contract in May 2013 as the chief financial controller following a similar period as the public broadcaster’s payroll technical and compliance manager.
The offer of the position of chief financial controller was rescinded after Campher met the SABC’S group employee relations department who advised that the broadcaster intended to terminate her services.
According to Judge Nkutha-nkontwana’s judgment, Campher was subsequently served with a letter dated October 25, 2016 notifying her that the SABC had resolved to terminate the employment relationship and pay her for the balance of her fixed-term contract which was 18 months.
She was paid out nearly R1.8m but later referred the matter to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA), where she sought reinstatement.
However, Campher was unsuccessful in conciliation and her matter was referred to arbitration.
At the CCMA, Campher argued that her dismissal was due to her being the stumbling block to the approval of certain bonus payments to Motsoeneng, as well as the exorbitant professional fees to SABC contractors.
Campher repeatedly drew the attention of SABC senior management over her concern about the public broadcaster’s solvency.
At the Labour Court, Campher insisted that the true reason for the termination of her contract was because she was viewed as an obstacle to the payment of certain bonuses to Motsoeneng, which was not supported by evidence, according to the CCMA commissioner who presided over her matter.
Campher had raised concerns about the SABC’S liquidity as well as the lawfulness of the verbal instruction she had received to effect the first instalment of Motsoeneng’s R11m bonus.
Campher maintained that had she not queried Motsoeneng’s bonus, her contract would not have been prematurely terminated, according to Judge Nkutha-nkontwana’s ruling.
The judge accepted Campher’s evidence.
Attempts to contact Motsoeneng were unsuccessful yesterday and the SABC did not respond to Independent Media’s enquiries.
The SABC eventually instituted a successful lawsuit at the South Gauteng High Court to block Motsoeneng’s pension payout until its action to recover the R11m had been heard.