Isaiah JM Machaba v Department of Roads and Transport

The applicant was employed by the Department of Roads and Transport on successive fixed-term contracts between 2009 and 2016. Following disputes around the expiry and extension of his contract, he referred an unfair dismissal dispute to the GPSSBC. An arbitration award found his dismissal procedurally and substantively unfair and ordered re-employment and compensation. The respondent launched a review application under section 145 of the LRA but failed to file the record of proceedings within the prescribed 60-day period under Rule 7A and the Labour Court Practice Manual. The delay lasted nearly four months. The applicant then applied under Rule 11 to dismiss the review application for want of prosecution and to make the arbitration award an order of court. The respondent opposed this and sought condonation for the late filing of the record, blaming attorney negligence.

Condonation for the late filing of the review record was granted, and the application to dismiss the review application for want of prosecution was refused.

The case underscores the binding nature of the Labour Court Practice Manual and the expectation that review applications be prosecuted with urgency. It illustrates the Court’s discretionary balancing exercise between procedural non-compliance and prospects of success, and confirms that attorney negligence can place litigants at risk of dismissal of their cases.