Fired equestrian official to fight his dismissal at the CCMA

Fired SA Equestrian Federation (SAEF) secretary-general Wessel Strauss is to fight his dismissal at the CCMA‚ his attorney says.

“He is seeking re-employment‚” Bouwer van Niekerk told TimesLIVE.

“I can guarantee you it’s not the end of this.”

He said his client had been found guilty on two charges despite evidence to the contrary.

One charge was for insubordination because he had failed to include the SAEF president Willem Edeling in an e-mail that he didn’t need to be copied on.

He said Edeling had testified that he had understood why Strauss had not copied him on the e-mail in question.

The other was a charge of sexism‚ where the evidence was a recording from a meeting where Strauss made what Van Niekerk said was a joke — “an innocent comment by my client”.

Nobody from the meeting had testified‚ the lawyer added.

“The finding [against his client] is not borne out by any evidence‚” he said.