Mmatlou Maria Moloantoa v Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration and Others

The applicant, Ms Mmatlou Maria Moloantoa, was employed by Eskom SOC Ltd as an Assistant Officer Documentation. In February 2016 she attended an approved training course in Midrand and travelled as a passenger in a colleague’s private vehicle, paying R400 for transport. Upon return, she submitted a travel reimbursement claim via Eskom’s electronic system reflecting 713 kilometres and was reimbursed R2 584.80. Following a 2017 forensic investigation into fraudulent travel claims, Eskom charged her with gross misconduct involving dishonesty and fraud. After a disciplinary hearing conducted in terms of Eskom’s negotiated disciplinary procedure, the chairperson found her guilty but imposed a sanction of seven days’ unpaid suspension, which she served. Subsequently, Eskom’s General Manager unilaterally revisited the sanction, invited representations, and substituted the suspension with summary dismissal. Ms Moloantoa referred an unfair dismissal dispute to the CCMA. The commissioner found the dismissal procedurally and substantively fair. Ms Moloantoa then brought a review application to the Labour Court.

The arbitration award was reviewed and set aside and replaced with an order of the Labour Court. The Court found the dismissal substantively unfair due to the ultra vires substitution of the sanction. Reinstatement was declined, and compensation was awarded as the appropriate remedy. No order as to costs was made.

This judgment is significant for its detailed engagement with conflicting Labour Appeal Court authorities on substituted disciplinary sanctions. While expressing strong reservations about the concept of ‘invalid’ dismissals under the LRA, the Court reaffirmed that the Labour Court is bound by the LAC’s decision in SARS v CCMA (Kruger). The case illustrates the ongoing jurisprudential tension between fairness-based review of dismissals and ultra vires reasoning in labour discipline, and confirms that, pending Constitutional Court clarification, unauthorised substitution of sanctions renders dismissals substantively unfair.