KEY POINTS
- Labour Court reversed a decision that had brought back Nokuthula Ceki, a fired police administrator based at Stellenbosch.
- Ceki tried to grab her boyfriend’s mobile phone this time when he was trying to arrest a suspect involving an ATM Booth.
- Judge Robert Lagrange however upheld the decision of SAPS stating that Ceki deserved to be dismissed for misconduct and loss of trust.
The Labour Court has since dismissed Nokuthula Ceki the former office administrator at Stellenbosch police station following an earlier arbitration hearing which ordered her reinstatement.
The regulating authority discharged Ceki for gross misconduct for allegedly attempting to retrieve her boyfriend’s phone and give an alibi to suspects involved in an ATM theft.
Ceki was first mentioned in the case in January 2019 when she tried to gain access to a suspect’s property. Pamela Ceki’s efforts to take a suspect’s phone and inquire about certain aspects of the case after she had not been handling the case as an arresting officer indicated by Captain Williams.
Eyewitnesses revealed that she accompanied police officers to the detention area and was communicating with the accused in detainment in Xhosa.
Maureen De Beer during the arbitration found that Ceki’s conduct was improper but did not contravene the public service code. In essence, she produced no evidence that Ceki had any interference with the arrests and she ordered her reinstatement with back pay, merely final written reprimand.
Labour Court decided that dismissal was appropriate
SAPS embarked on an arbitration and citing Ceki’s use of her position of Authorised members and the Police Used Absolution, they sought to have the arbitration ruling reversed in the Labour Court.
They observed that such items are vital in the collection of evidence and highlighted that the act by Ceki to dispose one was criminal.
Thus, Judge Robert Lagrange stated that the arbitrator erred by not taking fully into consideration the measure of Ceki’s misconduct. He revealed to her that if Ceki had succeeded in taking the phone, the investigations could have been Robinson.
The court also pointed out that Ceki never showed any remorse and thus the trust between her and SAPS is beyond repair. Therefore, this case also confirms the reinstatement order given and the reason that entitles her dismissal according to the Labour Court.
