- A customer’s missing cement triggered a chain of complaints that cost a store manager his job.
- The CCMA ordered reinstatement with 18 months’ salary back pay worth nearly R460 000.
- The Labour Court reinstated him but trimmed the award to just four months’ salary.
It all began in December 2020, when Mzwandile Mdunyelwa of Mqanduli walked into his local Cashbuild, looking for a bargain. He spotted 10 bags of damaged cement, heavily discounted but still good enough to keep a small building project standing. Money exchanged hands, promises were made, and he left expecting to collect the bags later.
But when he came back, the cement had vanished. Other customers had scooped them up. Store staff promised more would be set aside, yet week after week, there was nothing but excuses. Mdunyelwa was left with receipts in hand but no bags for his project, his patience crumbling like a wall without mortar.
When a customer’s anger turns corporate
Frustrated and empty-handed, Mdunyelwa escalated his complaint until it reached Cashbuild’s head office. The company investigated, and all eyes quickly turned to Luvolwethu Dyani, the store manager meant to oversee transactions and ensure customers received what they had paid for.
Cashbuild accused him of poor customer service and bringing the company’s reputation into disrepute. Within months, he was dismissed. An internal appeal panel upheld the decision, ruling that a manager who could not secure ten bags of cement for a paying customer had let down both the customer and the brand.
The CCMA jackpot
But Dyani was not prepared to see his career end in dust. He approached the CCMA, arguing that his dismissal was unfair. In 2023, a commissioner agreed, finding that while his conduct was negligent, it was not the kind of gross misconduct that justifies losing a job outright.
The CCMA ordered his reinstatement and directed Cashbuild to pay him 18 months’ worth of back pay. That amounted to more than R460 000, a figure that could build an entire block of homes, not just a wall.
To Dyani, it felt like vindication. To Cashbuild, it was an outrageous windfall for someone they believed had embarrassed their brand.
Labour Court cracks the cement
Cashbuild turned to the Labour Court in Gqeberha, asking for the CCMA award to be reviewed and set aside. Acting Judge C De Kock agreed partly with each side.
On one hand, the judge was clear that Dyani’s conduct was unacceptable. “It is unacceptable for a customer to pay for bags and then to wait for three months to receive the bags,” the judgment read. Negligence was clear, and the company had a right to be embarrassed.
But negligence was not gross misconduct. The court ruled that Dyani’s failure did not reach the level of deliberate dishonesty or misconduct that would justify permanent dismissal. In the eyes of the law, dismissal was simply too harsh a sanction.
A reduced payout, still a win
While the Labour Court reinstated Dyani, it stopped short of confirming the CCMA’s jackpot. The court slashed his compensation from 18 months’ salary to just four months’ pay; still a meaningful sum, but far from the half-million rand once promised.
The ruling left Dyani with his job back, but also a sobering reminder that negligence has consequences, even if it falls short of outright misconduct. For Cashbuild, the decision reaffirmed that companies must tread carefully when handing down the ultimate penalty of dismissal.
Conviction.co.za
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