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The Stellenbosch police station employee was reinstated to her position in 2022 after previously being fired.
Picture: iStock
A police secretary suffered a blow after the Labour Court overturned a ruling that had initially reinstated her following her dismissal.
Nokuthula Ceki, an administrative staff member at the Stellenbosch police station, was fired after being found guilty of misconduct.
The charges stemmed from allegations that she attempted to assist her boyfriend, M. Paulos, who was one of four suspects arrested in connection with an alleged ATM robbery.
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Ceki was accused of trying to retrieve her boyfriend’s cellphone and attempting to create an alibi for the suspects in January 2019.
Her actions were deemed “improper” and amounted to interference with the justice process, violating the Public Service Code.
As a result, she was dismissed from her position. But she later challenged the outcome.
Ceki was also acquitted of criminal charges after the case against the suspects was withdrawn.
Testimony during arbitration
During arbitration, Captain Williams testified that Ceki entered a boardroom on 16 January when he was drafting a statement and asked about the suspects’ arrest.
When informed that they were linked to an ATM robbery in Stellenbosch and that their rental vehicle had been captured on CCTV footage, she allegedly claimed that the car had been in Mbekweni all day.
He also testified that Ceki asked if she could retrieve the suspects’ personal belongings.
Williams informed her that she could collect belts and shoelaces, but did not grant permission to take cellphones.
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When the arresting officer later learned that Ceki had attempted to take her boyfriend’s phone, he found it suspicious and, under the instruction of the station commander, opened a criminal case against her.
However, the case was eventually dismissed.
Another witness testified that Ceki accompanied officers and suspects to the holding cells without any official reason to be there.
The witness also stated that she spoke to the suspects in isiXhosa and took a cellphone, but was ordered to hand it back because it was an exhibit in the robbery case.
Ceki’s defence
At the hearing, Ceki testified that Paulos had called her to inform her that he and others had been arrested while on their way to the airport.
He requested that she come to the police station to find out the reason for their arrest.
She claimed she had only gone to collect the suspects’ belongings as instructed.
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Ceki also admitted that Paulos had been her “on-off” boyfriend for a decade and that they had resumed their relationship in 2019.
But she insisted that she was unaware of his activities and had no knowledge of any gang involvement in ATM robberies.
Additionally, she stated that she would never have asked for the cellphones because she understood that they would typically be used for gathering information and only returned once a suspect was released.
Arbitration ruling and Labour Court review
The arbitrator, Maureen De Beer, found no evidence that Ceki had violated any specific public service code or that her actions had prejudiced the police’s interests.
De Beer ruled that Ceki’s actions did not affect the suspects’ arrest.
However, she did find that her conduct was improper, as she had abused her privileges as a police station employee.
The arbitrator also determined that Ceki’s claim of ignorance regarding her boyfriend’s activities was “highly unlikely” and that her actions had impacted the employer-employee relationship.
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In May 2022, De Beer ruled in favor of Ceki, ordering her reinstatement with 12 months’ remuneration and a final written warning.
The South African Police Service (Saps), however, challenged the ruling and sought to have it overturned in the Labour Court in Cape Town.
The matter was heard in June 2024.
Before the court, Saps argued that the arbitrator had failed to consider whether Ceki acted with intent when she attempted to retrieve a suspect’s cellphone.
The police contended that her actions were deliberate and meant to obstruct investigations, highlighting that Ceki herself acknowledged that cellphones were crucial in gathering evidence.
Labour Court judgment
In a judgment delivered last week, Judge Robert Lagrange ruled that the arbitrator had erred in concluding that Ceki’s dismissal was unfair.
“The evidence showed that Ceki used her position as a staff member at the station, to gain access to the suspects and to try to prevent her boyfriend’s cellphone from being retained by the investigators,” the judgment reads.
Lagrange stated that if Ceki had succeeded in her actions, it would have negatively impacted the investigation and amounted to interference.
“Ceki showed no remorse for her conduct,” he added.
The judge also noted that the Stellenbosch police station’s commanding officer had not taken immediate steps to suspend Ceki pending the disciplinary process.
“Where it was deemed necessary to take special measures to prevent Ceki having access to sensitive information, it is clear the trust the officer commanding had in her secretary was broken.
“How the trust between employer and employee could be said to have been maintained in those circumstances is difficult to fathom.
“The arbitrator’s finding that the trust relationship remained intact, if ‘tarnished’, had no foundation in the evidence.”
As a result, Lagrange overturned De Beer’s ruling and declared that Ceki’s dismissal was “substantively fair”.
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