By Kanina Foss
Columnist David Bullard's case of wrongful dismissal against publishing company Avusa will not be heard in the Labour Court, because he apologised for writing the provocative Sunday Times column that got him sacked.
The apology was published in the Business Times a week after the column appeared.
In it, he said he regretted any offence caused to readers and the newspaper's editor, Mondli Makhanya.
Avusa's attorney, Phuke Maserumule, yesterday argued that Bullard's apology showed he had not believed his dismissal was an infringement on his freedom of speech, and that the case therefore did not belong in the Labour Court.
Instead, Judge Elim Francis transferred the case to the Statutory Council of the Printing, Newspapers and Packaging Industry. It is not yet known when the case will be heard by the council.
According to Bullard's attorney, Ari Soldatos, the first step is to prove that Bullard was in fact an Avusa employee and entitled to employee protection.
In 2004, Bullard signed a contract which stated that he was a freelance columnist, but he is arguing that his relationship with the company amounted to more than that.
"I was their poster boy," he said outside the Labour Court in Braamfontein yesterday.
"The relationship soured after the article was published, when they suddenly decided I must be a racist."
The column, titled "Uncolonised Africa wouldn't know what it was missing", appeared in April last year. Five days later, he was sacked by Makhanya over the phone.
Makhanya said at the time that the column had slipped through the system.
Bullard said the newspaper had paid him to write provocative columns. "You've ordered meat every day, then you tell me you're a vegetarian."
He said he was pursuing the matter in the interests of justice, and would donate any money awarded to him to charity. "It's about fighting for the rights of the little guy," he said.