BSA floored in long-running Qithi matter
Board chairman says they will now petition the Labour Court
Boxing SA’s board must humble itself before sports minister Nathi Mthethwa and request financial assistance to settle its protracted labour matter with unfairly dismissed CEO Moffat Qithi.
That is because the longer their legal battle drags on, the more money BSA is likely to part with. BSA suffered a debilitating blow on Friday when Labour Court judge Portia Nkutha-Nkontwana dismissed BSA’s appeal application to review the decision by the CCMA which ruled in Qithi’s favour in 2018.
The judge said: “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.”
When approached for comment, board chair Luthando Jack said: “We are petitioning the Labour Appeal Court effectively as of today.”
The matter began in 2015 when the board, then chaired by Muditambi Ravele, suspended Qithi for mismanagement of funds. Qithi was then found guilty on 10 of 14 charges and dismissed.
He took the matter to the CCMA which ruled in his favour and ordered BSA to pay him R4m, which was his monthly salary backdated to 2015.
He was also supposed to return to work at the office but BSA took the matter to the Labour Court, a case which they have lost once again.