<\/p>\n
The Johannesburg Labour Court has called out a Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) commissioner for relying on a fake judgment, presumably AI-generated, to make an unlawful ruling.<\/p>\n
Acting Judge Sean Snyman recently heard an urgent application brought by South African Post Office (Sapo) business rescue practitioners to set aside a ruling by the commissioner, Menzi Fakude.<\/p>\n
In August 2026, Fakude ruled that business rescue did not stop an unfair dismissal claim (seeking reinstatement and back pay) by six former employees of Sapo from going to arbitration, which was set down for 15 October.<\/p>\n
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The business rescue practitioners launched review proceedings, but in the meantime sought an urgent interdict to halt the arbitration. This would be until the finalisation of the business rescue process, as provided for in law.<\/p>\n
They said the case Fakude relied on to refer the matter to arbitration did not exist.<\/p>\n
Snyman ruled in favour of the business rescue practitioners on 15 October. His judgment, with reasons, was handed down late last week.<\/p>\n
Read the judgment\u00a0here<\/p>\n
Sapo was placed under business rescue in July 2023. The business rescue practitioners applied to the high court in June 2026 to terminate business rescue, but the matter is still pending.<\/p>\n
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Six workers dismissed in December 2025 referred a dispute to the CCMA, which was heard by Fakude and ruled on in August 2026.<\/p>\n
Judge Snyman noted that contrary to law, the business rescue practitioners had not been cited as a party in the dispute and that the Companies Act barred any legal proceedings against an entity in rescue.<\/p>\n
This was to prevent any diversion of resources while the entity was given breathing space to achieve commercial viability.<\/p>\n
Contrary to this and established law, Fakude had concluded that business rescue was not an impediment to unfair dismissal proceedings and had referred the matter to arbitration.<\/p>\n
The \u2018judgment\u2019 in question<\/p>\n
The commissioner specifically referred to a judgment \u2013 SOC Ltd (In Business Rescue) and Others v Communication Workers Union and Others [2023] ZACC 40\u00a0\u2013\u00a0which he claimed was decisive that business rescue \u201cdoes not suspend the operation of labour legislation or deprive employees of access to the statutory dispute-resolution mechanisms\u201d.<\/p>\n
But Sapo had argued that the \u201cundeniable reality is that the ruling is squarely founded on purported reasoning contained in a judgment that does not exist\u201d.<\/p>\n
Judge Snyman said he too could find no such case.<\/p>\n
The citation referred to by Fakude related to a judgment concerning immigration and spousal visas.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt appears that [Fakude] must have relied on AI in seeking to find substantiation for his reasoning.\u201d<\/p>\n
Snyman said Fakude obviously never sought to verify \u201cthat this is even remotely correct\u201d.<\/p>\n
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This was \u201can untenable state of affairs\u201d and a \u201cfundamental failure of justice\u201d.<\/p>\n
He said the use of AI by legal practitioners had of late been lamented by the courts and recently, in a full bench appeal in a matter in which an acting judge was found to have used AI hallucinations, Judge Ingrid Opperman had called for \u201czero tolerance\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf an arbitrator wishes to use AI to conduct research, then the arbitrator is compelled to still verify if the judgment that the AI may come up with exists and then the arbitrator must actually read the judgment to verify if what the AI says was decided, was in fact decided.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Snyman said Fakude\u2019s ruling was a \u201cnullity\u201d and the court had a duty to intervene in proceedings that are \u201ctainted by illegality\u201d.<\/p>\n
He said while the merits would be fully aired during the review proceedings, which \u201cenjoys substantial prospects of success\u201d, Sapo had made out a case for the planned arbitration on 15 October to be stopped.<\/p>\n
Read: AI can change the world and still be a bad investment<\/p>\n
He said the workers could pursue their claim once Sapo was no longer in business rescue.<\/p>\n
\u00a9 2026 GroundUp. This article was first published here.<\/p>\n
#Labour #Court #lambasts #CCMA #commissioner #relying #hallucination<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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