SAFTU congratulates NUMSA on its latest ConCourt victory
The South African Federation of Trade Unions congratulates its affiliate, the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) on another triumph at the Constitutional court today, 13 September 2018.
The court dismissed an appeal by an employer, Duncanmec, and ordered it to reinstate nine Numsa members whom it dismissed for singing a struggle song - “uMama uyajabula mangishaya ibhunu” - “My mother rejoices when I hurt the Boer” - during a strike in April 2013.
Duncanmec gave the nine workers a final written warning for embarking on an illegal strike, and then dismissed them for misconduct on the spurious ground that they were singing a ‘racist’ song.
This Metals and Engineering Bargaining Council (MEIBC) found in favour of the workers and ordered their immediate reinstatement. Duncanmec however appealed to the Labour Court to reverse this order but lost. The Labour Appeals Court then refused to hear a further appeal because there was no prospect for success.
The employer then took its appealed to the Constitutional Court which agreed that the song is hurtful to the employer, but ruled that using the word "boer" does not constitute racism or hate speech. It dismissed Duncanmec’s appeal and ordered it to reinstate the workers and to pay their backpay from when they were unfairly dismissed in April 2013.