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- A former University of Johannesburg lecturer who was dismissed for poor performance and gross dishonesty claims that she was fired because of her Zimbabwean nationality and disability.
- Lyness Matizirofa says Judge Phanuel Mudau used non-existent facts to rule against her in the dismissal case.
- She wants his recusal from proceeding she launched for leave to appeal Mudau's ruling.
A former University of Johannesburg (UJ) lecturer who was dismissed for poor performance and gross dishonesty wants Judge Phanuel Mudau to recuse himself from leave to appeal proceedings she launched to challenge a judgment in which he ruled against her in an application for her dismissal.
She believes that xenophobia tainted the process, from the internal UJ proceedings against her to the case before Mudau.
The leave to appeal application was supposed to be heard on 13 October but has been delayed by her bid for Mudau's recusal.
Lyness Matizirofa submitted a complaint to Gauteng Judge President Dunstan Mlambo on Monday via her lawyers, Machaba Attorneys.
Her allegations date back to 2020, when she was dismissed as a statistics lecturer for poor performance as well as gross dishonesty for allegedly concealing poor work performance. She denied the charges.
She alleged that part-time CCMA commissioner Keheditse Masege, who mediated in the internal proceedings at UJ, submitted an unlawful report that was based on a fraudulent template that the institution used to build its dismissal case against her.
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Masege was suspended for nine months after a CCMA investigation in April 2020.
Matizirofa was informed of her dismissal in a letter from UJ vice-chancellor Tshilidzi Marwala, dated 13 February 2020. But, according to her, the disciplinary hearing was held on 14 February - the day after the letter was written.
Marwala accepted the illegal template to terminate her employment contract, she alleged.
When Mudau heard the matter, he ruled against her but in her complaint to Mlambo she alleged that his judgment was based on non-existent information.
She claimed the dismissal was based on nothing but discrimination against her Zimbabwean nationality and disability.
She submitted:
It is on this basis that she wants Mudau to recuse himself from the leave to appeal proceedings.
"Since there is a complaint pending against him, it will be conflict of interest to determine on this matter further as he is prima facie implicated in wrongdoing.
"Even if the complaint is deposed in his favour, given the fact that I have lodged a complaint, the lingering thought will be that he might want to use the leave to appeal application to further cause injustice on me and thus refuse the application for leave to appeal."
