A former Free State National Botanical Gardens employee, who was fired for operating a loan shark business at work, lost his appeal at the Labour Court to get his job back.
Monapole Daniel Kaweng worked as a specialist machine operator and was also a shop steward before he was found guilty of engaging in an unlawful money-lending scheme at work.
His dismissal comes after a whistleblower told the employer that a loan shark was operating at the Botanical Gardens during working hours but the informant did not implicate him in June 2019.
The matter was subsequently investigated and a forensic report was produced which implicated a senior artisan, Mr Zola, who was found to be involved in a scheme where employees were charged interest rates of up to 50%.
Kaweng was not implicated in the forensic report.
A disciplinary hearing was held which ultimately led to the dismissal of Mr Zola, but before he could leave, he implicated Kaweng as part of the scheme.
This led to Kaweng’s dismissal in August 2021.
Unhappy with the dismissal, he took the matter to the Commission for Conciliation Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA).
At the CCMA, he said that he had been involved in a stokvel, and not an unlawful money-lending scheme.
During cross examination, he conceded that some people had borrowed money from the scheme he was involved in and interest was charged in 2017. He said he did not agree with the decision and terminated his membership.
However, his version that he was a member of a stokvel was rejected.
“A stockvel is a savings or investment society to which members regularly contribute an agreed amount and from which they receive lump sum payment. The definition of a stokvel does not include the borrowing of money to others,” read the judgment.
As a result, the CCMA found find that the sanction of dismissal was appropriate.
It was added that even though Kaweng had left the scheme in December 2017, he failed to inform his employer of what was happening and that it had escalated to a full money lending scheme.
Kaweng took the matter to the Labour Court in Johannesburg on appeal.
Acting Judge Myburgh said it was necessary to reflect on Kaweng’s evidence.
Kaweng testified that he had formed a stokvel together with Mr Zola and another member, to “just put money together so that at the end of the year we can share [it] amongst us…there was no lending of money it was only for us,” he said.
In 2017, they were joined by a woman who changed the laws of this stokvel and they started loaning money to employees and charged interest.
Because he knew that a money lending scheme had to be registered with the National Credit Regulator (NCR), he tried to quit the stokvel but he was told he was already in and can only leave in December when they shared the money.
The judge said even if the money lending scheme was somehow not in breach of the National Credit Act, the CCMA’s decision to uphold the dismissal would, nevertheless, have been reasonable.
“For the duration of 2017, the applicant (Kaweng) participated in the money-lending scheme at work with fellow employees apparently charged exorbitant interest rates,” said the judge.
“...Although it might be considered harsh, a decision to the effect that this constituted serious misconduct warranting dismissal, nevertheless, falls within a range of reasonableness and is thus not reviewable.”
Based on his participation on the money-lending scheme, his application was dismissed.