Sweet justice for long-time Shoprite baker who was fired for stirring sugar in a cup

Who would have thought that stirring a cup of tea or coffee during working hours could lead to the dismissal of a Shoprite baker and a subsequent legal dispute?

Godfrey Makaloi, a baker at a Shoprite store in Kimberley since 1991, was dismissed by the company following disciplinary proceedings despite not having a “clean service record”.

Shoprite charged Makaloi with serious misconduct after he was filmed “stirring sugar into his hot drink during working hours in an area not designated for the consumption of food or drinks”.

The company also claimed that the sugar it used came from the bakery's inventory.

Shoprite baker goes to CCMA

Makaloi challenged his dismissal before the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) and won.

CCMA Commissioner Zoliswa Tabo ruled that the dismissal was procedurally fair but fundamentally unfair.

Tabo concluded that the video evidence did not show Makaloi drinking from his cup, despite the Shoprite store's food manager claiming he consumed the sugary drink.

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The Commissioner then ordered that Makaloi be reinstated with effect from 10 January 2023 and paid three months and two weeks' back pay.

However, Shoprite Checkers referred the matter to the Labour Court with a view to overturning the CCMA’s decision.

The company requested that the court either find the baker's dismissal to be objectively justified or refer the case back to another CCMA Commissioner for reconsideration.

Shoprite store or baking sugar?

In a ruling handed down this week, Judge DA Smith reviewed the essential facts of the case, including video footage showing Makaloi “stirring something in a cup of tea or coffee.”

Although Makaloi confirmed that he was the person in the video, he did not admit to drinking the warm drink, as the footage only shows him holding the cup in his hand.

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Employees of the Shoprite branch in Kimberley were able to request provisions from the “cash desk department”.

In addition, employees were allowed to bring their own containers to collect perishable foods such as tea, coffee, sugar and powdered milk and store them in the employees' individual lockers for later use.

Makaloi's counsel argued before the Employment Court that he kept his personal supply of sugar in the bakery area, where Shoprite also stored a large 25-kilogram canister of sugar used to bake goods sold to customers.

While Makaloi admitted that his drink contained sugar, the baker denied that it came from the company's can.

Shoprite criticizes CCMA Commissioner

In its version, Shoprite criticised Tabo for failing to “properly examine the material evidence” and argued that this failure led the CCMA Commissioner to reach an “unreasonable conclusion”.

Smith noted that Shoprite alleged that Makaloi consumed sugar in a non-designated location between October 17 and 22, 2022, without following staff shopping procedures, which contributed to the “depletion” of the store's inventory.

However, the acting judge found that the food manager's claim that Makaloi had removed the sugar from the store was not supported by “direct evidence”.

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“He drew this conclusion without any basis. According to his logic, since the sugar was mixed in the shop, it must have come from the 25 kg can and not from the employee's package,” the ruling states.

Smith agreed with Tabo's conclusion that the video footage did not reveal the source of the sugar.

“The Commissioner’s analysis of the evidence before her is neither unreasonable at this crucial stage nor does it lead to an unreasonable result.”

Labour Court confirms CCMA ruling

The judge also found that there was no evidence that Makaloi had drunk from the cup, so “consumption cannot be proven.”

“Neither the video evidence nor the direct evidence could show that the employee took a sip from the cup. At most, the complainant admitted that the employee had stirred his own sugar into a warm drink,” the ruling states.

Regarding the second allegation of failing to follow employee purchase and cancellation procedures, Smith stressed that a witness testified that she provided Makaloi with his personal supply of sugar from the cash desk.

The judge also pointed out that Shoprite had not challenged the witness's testimony because she had not been cross-examined.

Smith concluded that Shoprite's bakery had not suffered any sugar loss because the first two allegations could not be proven.

Therefore, the CCMA’s decision to quash Makaloi’s dismissal was correct.

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