THE Western Cape education department’s protracted battle with axed Heathfield High School principal Wesley Neumann appears to be far from over.
The celebration of a minor victory after the Education Labour Relations Council (ELRC) commissioner ruled that they will preside over his arbitration hearing was short-lived after the department announced that it will be taking the decision on review.
“It would waste time and money for the proceedings to be held by a body that may subsequently be found by the Labour Court to have no jurisdiction to entertain the matter,” said MEC for education David Maynier, adding that they believed that the ruling by the arbitrator was incorrect.
“We will accordingly be approaching the Labour Court to review and set aside the ruling – and ask that it also rule on the jurisdictional question at the same time.”
Neumann made headlines last year after the department fired him for defying its orders on attendance at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Neumann is challenging the dismissal, a process that has dragged on with each side unwilling to throw in the towel, while the school has also been the scene of chaos with protesting pupils and allegations of the culling of staff who supported the former principal.
Neumann’s lawyer, Advocate Vernon Seymour, said his client was grateful for the support he received but condemned the department for delaying the process.
“He is disappointed that there appears to be another attempt to delay his day in court. It is somewhat surprising that WCED is trying to avoid presenting their case to an independent tribunal after they received a near perfect guilty verdict from the people they had appointed,” said Seymour.
“We are hoping they will reconsider so that this matter can be put to bed once and for all.”
Maynier said they have approached Neumann’s legal representatives through the State Attorney’s office, for their agreement to a postponement of the arbitration proceedings pending the outcome of their review application.
“On the advice of our legal team, we believe that this course of action is necessary to save money and time, and more importantly, we need to address the precedent that this would set for other cases of this nature to be heard in the ELRC in future.
“We maintain that such cases do not fall within its jurisdiction.
“We have been brought into this process by Mr Neumann, and we are obligated to ensure that the process is seen through in a lawful manner.”
Maynier said that they are now focused on ensuring that teaching and learning continued at Heathfield.
“We will continue to support the school and its learners, and will not entertain attempts to disrupt and undermine teaching and learning,” he said.
However, the Special Action Committee (SAC), a body set up to support Neumann, railed against the education department’s stance, calling it another “desperate delay tactic”.
“Why would the WCED continuously delay this matter if they could justify that Mr Neumann’s dismissal was justifiable and fair? Because we believe they don’t have a case to put.
“The evidence in the Neumann matter cannot be changed no matter the level of tribunal, whether it is heard in the ELRC or Labour Court, the evidence remains the same – so why won’t the WCED put their case to the ELRC?”
The committee was also critical of how much it was costing the department to fight the case.
“According to our calculations, the department has spent more than R2 million and counting to persecute Mr Neumann and is prepared to waste more taxpayers’ money to delay this matter, which amounts to fruitless and wasteful expenditure.
“We firmly believe there are many high-ranking officials linked to the unfair dismissal of Mr Neumann, and the department now has to cover up its wrongdoings by delaying this matter in the hope that it will frustrate and drain Mr Neumann financially. Is this what the WCED ‘perceive’ as justice?”
The ANC’s spokesperson on education, Khalid Sayed said they supported the move to take the matter to the ELRC.
“When the WCED and the MEC refused to heed to our calls to withdraw the frivolous charges and reinstate the principal, we were amongst the first to support the move to take the matter to the Education Labour Relations Council.
“We always believed that it was the correct platform where he would receive a fair hearing.
“We have posed questions to the WCED regarding the rising legal bills it has incurred as a result of the Neumann persecution. We call on the WCED to stop wasting taxpayers’ money and reinstate Wesley Neumann.”
Weekend Argus