Labour Court rules against Heathfield High principal's urgent return

The Labour Court has dismissed an application to compel the Western Cape Education Department to reinstate Heathfield High principal Wesley Neumann.

Neumann approached the court earlier in February with an enforcement order to return to his post.

The department has appealed an earlier court ruling to reinstate the high school principal.

The department’s appeal effectively suspends the reinstatement.

Wesley Neumann's legal counsel says the former high school principal concedes this loss in the labour court.

The former Heathfield High head was dismissed in 2021 after he was found guilty in a Western Cape Education Department disciplinary hearing related to refusing to open the school for teaching and learning during the height of the Covid pandemic.

His lawyer Vernon Seymour says that while the latest ruling is not in his favour, the ruling does not overturn Neumann's reinstatement.

Seymour is confident the department has no prospects of success in appealing the reinstatement.

Meanwhile, the Western Cape Education Department has welcomed the Labour Court's latest decision.

Education MEC David Maynier says Neumann wasted taxpayers' money in launching the application.

"The fact is, Wesley Neumann's application had no prospects of success. The Labour court has the best interests of Heathfield High School's learners first."