Gloria de Gita v Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration and Others

The applicant was employed by the National Health Laboratory Services (NHLS) as a Project Data Capturer and was dismissed on 19 December 2019 for refusing to follow lawful and reasonable instructions and for gross negligence. She referred an unfair dismissal dispute to the CCMA. The commissioner found the dismissal substantively unfair and awarded her compensation equivalent to three months’ remuneration, but declined reinstatement. After receiving the compensation, the applicant sought to review the arbitration award on the basis that the commissioner should have reinstated her. The review application was filed more than three months outside the six-week statutory time limit, and the accompanying application for condonation was itself filed almost two years later, without a detailed explanation for the delay.

The application for condonation for the late filing of the review application was dismissed. No order as to costs was made.

The case reaffirms the strict approach taken by the Labour Court to condonation in review applications, particularly in employment disputes where expedition is a core objective of the Labour Relations Act. It underscores that inadequate or vague explanations for delay may be treated as no explanation at all and that litigants must act promptly when non-compliance with time limits is realised.