Pioneer Foods (Pty) Ltd t/a Aeroton Bakery v Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration and Others

The third respondent, Mr Khumalo, was employed by Pioneer Foods (Pty) Ltd t/a Aeroton Bakery for 16 years and held the position of Production Supervisor. In October 2020, the bakery experienced quality problems with brown bread flour. Management decided that white bread flour should be blended with brown flour manually to restore quality. The Acting Production Manager, Mr Madimatswana, was tasked with instructing all Production Supervisors. Mr Khumalo blended the flour automatically rather than manually and disputed that he was instructed to mix manually. He was dismissed on 29 December 2020 for gross negligence, failure to follow a reasonable instruction, and gross insubordination, allegedly causing losses of approximately R39 853. He referred an unfair dismissal dispute to the CCMA. The arbitrator found the dismissal substantively unfair and ordered retrospective reinstatement. Pioneer Foods brought a review application to the Labour Court.

The application to review and set aside the CCMA arbitration award was dismissed. The reinstatement order in favour of the third respondent remained in force. No order as to costs was made.

The case reaffirms the Sidumo reasonableness test in Labour Court review proceedings and underscores that review courts must not substitute their own decisions for that of arbitrators. It also highlights the employer’s burden under section 192(2) of the Labour Relations Act to clearly prove the fairness of a dismissal, particularly where misconduct is based on alleged insubordination or failure to follow instructions.