Synopsis:
Application for leave to appeal a decision of the Labout Appeal Court. The matter concerned whether it was just and equitable in terms of section 172(1)(b) of the Constitution for an order of reinstatement to be made where an employee had been unfairly dismissed eight years earlier. The Court refused leave to appeal on the basis that the constitutional issue raised should have been raised in the court from which the appeal arose. Leave to appeal would only be granted in such situations only where they were exceptional circumstances. The legislature had assigned such matters to the labour court, which had developed an expertise in labour law, and that court should have considered the matter first. The Court further found that the constitutional point could not succeed as it had no prospects of success. Judgment: Froneman J (unanimous).
