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- André Rheeder was fired as CEO of Sanlam Properties in 2019 after he was accused of resisting transformation.
- A CCMA commissioner ordered his reinstatement but a labour court judge said the hearing was unfair and ordered a new one.
- Now Rheeder has failed in an application for leave to appeal, meaning the CCMA must convene a new hearing.
- For more financial news, go to the News24 Business front page.
A top Sanlam executive who was fired in a row over race and culture at the financial services giant has failed in an attempt to challenge a court ruling that prevented his reinstatement.
André Rheeder was fired in 2019 as CEO of Sanlam Properties after he was accused of resisting transformation and being either insubordinate, insolent or racist towards his new line manager, Mervyn Shanmugam.
The Commission for Conciliation, Mediation, and Arbitration (CCMA) found Rheeder’s dismissal was unfair and ordered his reinstatement, but last September the Cape Town labour court ordered a new CCMA hearing chaired by a different commissioner.
Rheeder asked the labour appeal court for permission to challenge Judge Hilary Rabkin-Naicker’s ruling, meaning his reinstatement would stand, but on 15 February, his application was refused by three judges.
"This court is of the view that the intended appeal has no reasonable prospects of success and that there is no compelling reason why it should be heard," they said.
"This court, therefore, in general terms, concurs in the reasoning of the judgment of the labour court."
READ | Twist in legal fight over Sanlam exec who was fired amid race, culture tension
Rabkin-Naicker had found that CCMA part-time commissioner Madeleine Loyson's errors and irregularities were of "such a magnitude" they had made a fair trial impossible.
According to Rabkin-Naicker, Loyson's ruling contained numerous opinions "of the mind-reading variety with no evidential basis to support [them]", and said the commissioner repeatedly "made pronouncements on the way the business in question should be run and senior employees should deal with each other".
Rheeder was charged with "failing to foster practices that created an inclusive culture by the continued use of Afrikaans in the department … and by excluding, bypassing or sidelining your superior [Shanmugam] as a person of colour".
Another charge said: "You are alleged to have displayed discriminatory conduct on the basis of race and/or were grossly insubordinate and/or were grossly insolent … and/or were disrespectful towards or undermined the authority of your line manager."
Documents Sanlam prepared for the CCMA hearing detailed several instances in which Rheeder allegedly insulted, undermined or defied Shanmugam, often by going over his head to then Sanlam Investment Group CEO Robert Roux.
