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Former employees of Afro Worldview took the media company to the Labour Court in Johannesburg on Wednesday to challenge what they called their unlawful retrenchment.
Since taking over the Gupta family’s media assets through a vendor financing facility, Mzwanele Manyi has embarked on a rebranding and transformation for the business.
Judgment is expected to be handed down on Thursday morning. An estimated 22 former employees are said to be party to the labour court application.
The former employees, now unemployed, are seeking that Afro Worldview give them formal notice and severance pay.
They maintain that their retrenchments from the company were inconsistent with section 189 of the Labour Relations Act which allows employers to terminate the employment of employees for compelling operational reasons.
Lawyer for the workers Tasso Anestidis said the employer was attempting to get rid of the workers “by hook or by crook”.
“We argue that the employer is not following section 189(a) and is blatantly disregarding those provisions that he is obliged to follow. We want an order forcing the employer to comply,” said Anestidis.
Former Afro Worldview employee Thokozane Nkosi told Fin24 that the employees seeking relief from the labour court were represented by the Communication Workers Union.
