Neumann and department look set for yet another court battle

THE Western Cape Education Department’s protracted battle with axed Heathfield High 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 would preside over his arbitration hearing was short-lived after the department announced it would 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 Education MEC 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.”

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 been the scene of chaos with protesting pupils and claims 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 had 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’s somewhat surprising that the WCED is trying to avoid presenting their case to an independent tribunal after they received a near-perfect guilty verdict from the people they’d appointed. We’re hoping they will reconsider so that this matter can be put to bed once and for all.”

Maynier said they had 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 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 they are now focused on ensuring that teaching and learning continued at Heathfield.

However, the Special Action Committee, 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 cannot be changed no matter the level of the tribunal, whether it is heard in the ELRC or Labour Court – 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 R2million and counting 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.”

The ANC’s spokesperson on education, Khalid Sayed said the party supported the move to take the matter to the ELRC.

“We were among the first to support the move to take the matter to the ELRC. We always believed that it was the correct platform where he would receive a fair hearing.

“We call on the WCED to stop wasting taxpayers’ money and reinstate Wesley Neumann.”