Court finds for cop

THE Johannesburg Labour Court has ruled that a policeman unfairly dismissed in June 2010 must be reinstated with six years’ back pay.

Warrant Office Kasivan Pillay, dismissed from the Commercial Crime Unit in Johannesburg, succeeded in having the decision of the arbitrator, IA Sirkhato, set aside.

The court said it could not understand why Sirkhato had convicted Pillay for allegedly extorting R400 000 from Gauteng businessman Vusi Mkhonza on December 1, 2008, and for allegedly stealing R600 000 from his son, Kwazi, a week later, during an armed robbery.

Yet the arbitrator had not convicted Pillay on charges of misconduct, intimidation and defeating the ends of justice.

Further, the criminal charges against Pillay had collapsed before the disciplinary charges and conviction had been finalised.

The court said it was also unable to determine why Mkhonza’s attorney was not called by the SAPS to testify at the disciplinary hearing.

The attorney, the court said, was called to Mkhonza’s residence when Pillay turned up there.

Mkhonza was under investigation at the time and it seemed he used his wife, Queen Ngubane, and son to derail the investigations against him, the court said.

The court said it believed Pillay’s version and not that of Mkhonza and the other SAPS witnesses.