A domestic worker has taken Elna and Allan Boesak to the Labour Court in an attempt to recover R1 300 she claims they owe her, the Sunday Times newspaper reported.
Christina Mpupumiso was employed by Elna Boesak for about six months at the beginning of last year, during a period in which Allan Boesak was serving part of an 18-month sentence for fraud and theft.
In papers before the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA), Mpupumiso claims she was dismissed by Allan Boesak without notice on June 9 2001, shortly after his release.
The report said Elna Boesak has disputed the claim, saying Mpupumiso was paid R1 000 severance pay for the month of June and that the only ”rule we broke was that we should have given her a month’s notice, but instead, we only gave her two weeks.
Mpupumiso, who earned R800 a month, working full-time at the Boesak’s home in Strand, lodged a complaint with the commission in July last year, claiming R1 361 for vacation pay and one month’s salary.
However the matter was delayed at the CCMA for more than a year, prompting Mpupumiso’s legal advisor, Wally Damonds, who works at the Helderberg Advice Office, to refer the matter to the Labour Court in Cape town for review.
Mpupumiso said of her dismissal: ”He (Boesak) said I must sit down. Then he just said he was going to give me my money for the month and I must not come back because they wanted to get someone to cook.”
Elna Boesak said: ”I am quite happy to pay the amount that the attorneys work out. But I am not paying another R1 000 for a month’s notice because I already did (pay that).”
Her lawyer, Waheed Badrodien said he had worked out the full and final settlement, ”without admission of liability,” to be 150.
Kulenkampff & associates, representing Allan Boesak said in a fax to the Sunday Times: ”Ms Mpupumiso was employed by Mr Boesak and not by Dr Boesak.” – Sapa