- Labour Court halts auction of department vehicles pending proof of security in reinstatement dispute.
- Department risks enforcement of the arbitration award if the bond of security is not provided by 30 October.
- Procedural lapses in Labour Court reinstatement disputes disrupt essential health services and prolong resolution.
The Labour Court in Port Elizabeth has stopped the Sheriff from selling seven vehicles belonging to the Eastern Cape Department of Health. The department rushed to court to block enforcement of an arbitration award ordering the reinstatement of one of its former employees.
Judge R Lagrange ruled that the sale could not go ahead until the department provides proper proof of security for the arbitration award, which is being challenged in court. The vehicles had been attached by the Sheriff to recover payment after the department failed to act swiftly on the award in favour of Garfield Gatsheni Ndlovu, a former employee.
In its application, the department argued the attached vehicles were used for “service delivery purposes” and that their removal had “compromised its ability to fulfil its functions, which it implies are central, inter alia, to the provision of services to pregnant women.”
Department Acted Too Slowly
The dispute stems from a March 2025 arbitration award that ordered the department to reinstate Ndlovu on a three-year contract starting from April 2024. The department had applied for a review of that award in July 2025, but failed to follow through on its own decision to secure the amount required under the Labour Relations Act (LRA) to suspend enforcement.
Judge Lagrange noted, “While the department, in good faith, took steps to approve the provision of a bond of security, it never produced any actual document proving the security had been provided. Approval of security is not the same as issuance of the bond of security itself”.
He explained that the law required a concrete document showing “an enforceable undertaking to make the payment, if the review fails,” such as a deposit, bank guarantee, or other financial security equivalent to two years of the employee’s salary.
The judge found that “given that the department has acted in good faith” and was “reasonably prompt in pursuing the review,” it should be given a final chance to file the required document.
Award suspended until security is filed
Judge Lagrange ordered that enforcement of the arbitration award “is stayed” and the Sheriff “is interdicted and restrained from proceeding with the sale of the motor vehicles.” The Sheriff must also “forthwith return the motor vehicles” already attached.
The department now has until 30 October 2025 to file proper security under section 145(8)(a) of the Labour Relations Act. If it fails to do so, “the interim relief ordered shall lapse.”
While recognising that Ndlovu was justified in opposing the application, the judge ordered the department to pay his legal costs, excluding “the costs of attendance by his legal representatives on 19 September 2025.”
Judge Lagrange concluded, “The law requires demands proof and compliance, especially when public interests are on the line.”
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