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A constructive dismissal case brought by spokesperson Adrian Lackay against his former employer, the South African Revenue Service (Sars), is due to proceed today.
If there are no further delays, Lackay is set to be the first witness in the arbitration hearing.
The onus will be on him to prove that his departure from Sars was a dismissal due to intolerable working conditions, his lawyer Nick Robb confirmed yesterday.
Lackay lodged his case against Sars in the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) almost two years ago, but proceedings have faced a number of delays.
In October last year, the CCMA ruled in Lackay’s favour that a bundle of documents was admissible.
Sars had objected to the inclusion of the documents, mostly relating to developments regarding the so-called spy “rogue unit”, which is at the centre of the dispute.
Sars argued that the documents were irrelevant. But Commissioner Joyce Nkopane ruled that it was premature to judge the relevance of the documents.
“We are therefore set to be going ahead with all the documents,” said Robb yesterday.
Lackay, who was employed for 11 years at Sars, has claimed that he was forced to leave after it had become “untenable” to associate himself with the goings-on at the revenue service.
Although CCMA hearings are usually closed, the media has been granted access following a successful application lodged by Media24 and the amaBhungane Centre for Investigative Journalism.
The rogue unit allegations led to former deputy Sars commissioner Ivan Pillay being suspended.
Group executive for investigations, Johann van Loggerenberg, and head of strategic planning, Peter Richter, were also implicated and suspended. They subsequently resigned.
Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, who was Sars commissioner at the time the unit was set up, has insisted that it operated fully within the law.
After dropping short-lived fraud charges against Gordhan last year relating to Pillay’s early retirement, National Prosecuting Authority boss Shaun Abrahams confirmed that a probe into the Sars unit was still in process.
In another dispute between Sars and Lackay, judgment was reserved in the North Gauteng High Court late last year regarding Lackay’s bid to get a R12 million defamation case brought by Sars and commissioner Tom Moyane struck off the role.
The case arises from the contents of a letter from Lackay to Parliament titled, “Sars: this is the inside story”.
It is suggested that Moyane had misled Parliament relating to the alleged rogue unit.
Argument in the CCMA hearing in Johannesburg is set down until Friday.
