Nature’s Choice Products (Pty) Ltd v Fawu (JA12/12) [2014] ZALAC 12; [2014] 5 BLLR 434 (LAC); (2014) 35 ILJ 1512 (LAC) (5 February 2014) per Coppin AJA [Waglay JP and Francis AJA concurring]
The Labour Appeal Court allowed the appeal and condoned the late delivery of the employer’s response to the claim. The response was accompanied by an application for condonation. A copy of the response was not attached to the application; it was referred to in the supporting affidavit and incorporated by reference. Sufficient explanation for the delay. A request for condonation involves the exercise of a judicial discretion which has been described as a ‘wide discretion’, or a discretion “loosely so called’. On appeal the LAC may substitute its decision for that of the court a quo if it considers its conclusion to be more appropriate.