Teenage shoplifting haunts woman, 49

● Stealing a chocolate and some biltong as a teenager has come back to haunt a former employee at the South African Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) — three decades later.

Human resources practitioner Pamela Njikelana approached the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) and the labour court in a bid to win back her job after claiming she was unfairly dismissed.

According to Njikelana and the CAA’s submission to the labour court in Johannesburg, she was hired by the authority on a fixed-term contract for 12 months. It was renewed multiple times.

The authority explained that prior to an employee joining, they are required to undergo various verification tests such as credit, qualification and criminal checks by the CAA’s forensic department.

These processes initially went well for Njikelana, who claimed she had no criminal record.

But in 2016, a new external verification process revealed that in 1990, when Njikelana was 18 years old, she had paid an admission of guilt fine after being caught stealing a chocolate bar and biltong.

Njikelana said she was unaware of the criminal record. She then approached the Pretoria Criminal Record Centre to have her record expunged. This has since been done, her lawyer confirmed.

The following year, when two permanent positions became available, Njikelana applied but was told she could not be hired because she had been dishonest.

She approached the CCMA claiming unfair dismissal, but her complaint was dismissed in July 2017. Commissioner Werner Kruger, in his ruling, was sceptical of Njikelana’s claims that she had forgotten about her arrest and fine.

“In all likelihood this would have been a traumatic experience and it is difficult to see how she could forget it,” Kruger ruled.

Njikelana then approached the labour court to overturn the CCMA’s decision but last week judge Dephny Mahosi, who is a former part-time commissioner at the CCMA, agreed that the CCMA had made the right decision.

The 49-year-old isn’t giving up. Njikelana’s lawyer, Doris Golele, said they would appeal against the ruling.

Njikelana told the Sunday Times: “To be punished for something I did so long ago? I was a child. I want to prove that I’m honest.”