Athletics
ASA official wins CCMA case
2010-09-02 14:38
Johannesburg - Athletics South Africa communications manager Ethel Manyaka will return to work on Friday after winning a case against the federation's interim administrators at the CCMA.
Manyaka said she was forced into taking indefinite unpaid study leave in June.
She was told she could return to her post after disciplinary hearings had been completed against suspended board members and employees, and the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC), running ASA since November last year, handed control of the sport back to the federation.
Manyaka informed ASA assistant administrator Richard Stander via e-mail that she did not agree with the suspension, as she had not been accused of any wrong doing.
Stander said he would take the matter to the ASA interim board, but Manyaka said she never heard back from him and was forced out of her office in Houghton.
A hearing was scheduled at the CCMA offices in Johannesburg on July 26, and while Manyaka presented her own case, no representatives of ASA turned up.
Manyaka received an arbitration award last week, with the commissioner in charge of the case finding she had been "unfairly suspended".
The commissioner went on to state that she was "suspended without pay for unknown reasons as she had not committed any offence".
ASA's interim administrators have been "ordered to lift Manyaka's suspension with immediate effect" and pay her in full for the period during which she did not receive a salary.
Manyaka has informed Stander that she will return to the office on Friday morning to continue her duties as an employee of the federation.