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Late last night Solidarity served court papers on the North-West Education MEC, the North-West Department of Education and on Laerskool Schweizer-Reneke and its governing body. In the papers the union asks that the suspension of teacher Elana Barkhuizen be lifted.

This comes after Solidarity earlier this week announced at a press conference that it would take legal action on behalf of Barkhuizen.

In its urgent application Solidarity requests the Labour Court in Johannesburg to give a ruling as early as 24 January to the effect that Barkhuizen’s suspension is unlawful and should therefore be lifted.

According to Anton van der Bijl, Head of Labour Law Services at Solidarity, Barkhuizen should never have been suspended in the first place, and in its papers, Solidarity asks that she be reinstated with immediate effect. “An innocent and extremely capable teacher, who does not look at the little ones in her class through a political lense, was abused by political hopefuls for their own gain. It cannot be allowed that competent people who excel at their job are vilified, as has happened to Elana Barkhuizen,” Van der Bijl said.

Van der Bijl furthermore stated that the manner in which Barkhuizen was suspended is in direct contravention of labour law. “Not alone was she not given the opportunity to state her side of the case, but the wrong ‘employer’ – with reference to the North-West Education MEC – took steps against her. It was not within the MEC’s powers to suspend her because she is in the employ of the governing body,” Van der Bijl explained.

“There is a very strong case to be argued in Elana’s favour, and we are most confident that the court would also see it in that light,” Van der Bijl said.

To read the court papers, click Attachment

Issued by SOLIDARITY