Labour Court of South Africa, Durban; fabrications originated with the chairperson of a Matjhabeng Local Municipality internal disciplinary hearing
Molawa and Others v Matjhabeng Local Municipality and Another (2026/157576) [2026] ZALCD 30
Withdrawn · July 2026
What was fabricated
The chairperson of an internal disciplinary hearing issued a ruling citing case authorities that do not exist. This is established from the primary record: the Gauteng High Court, in FJL v TGO (2025/220239, 31 July 2026, reportable), cites the case at footnote 9 as (2026/157576) [2026] ZALCD 30 and records at paragraph [40] that a stay was granted where "rulings made by a disciplinary chairperson (not a Judge or Acting Judge) citing case authorities which did not exist" were under challenge. PER CLIFFE DEKKER HOFMEYR'S EMPLOYMENT LAW ALERT OF 27 JULY 2026, AND NOT YET CHECKED AGAINST THE JUDGMENT ITSELF: the ruling relied on four authorities, of which only one existed and supported the proposition cited, two did not exist at all, and a fourth was a real decision that did not address the interpretation of collective agreements as claimed. Those figures are single-sourced to that alert and are attributed rather than asserted.
What happened as a result
The Labour Court stayed the pending disciplinary hearing pending review of the chairperson's rulings — confirmed from the primary record via the High Court's citation of the case in FJL v TGO at paragraph [40]. Per the Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr alert, the court held the source of the citations was immaterial: whether an AI assistant or the chairperson's own error, the result was prima facie evidence of a failure to apply his mind, and the employees could not be required to continue before him. DATE: logged at month precision. The judgment has not been obtained; SAFLII and LawLibrary did not carry it as at 5 August 2026. A specific date of 13 July 2026 appears in Damien Charlotin's AI Hallucination Cases Database but is not corroborated by a primary source, and that database mis-attributed the tribunal on another incident in this register, so it is not relied on here.
Sources
- https://www.cliffedekkerhofmeyr.com/en/news/publications/2026/South-Africa/Employment-Law/Employment-law-alert-27-july-Phantom-authorities-Artificial-intelligence-fictitious-citations-and-the-integrity-of-legal-proceedings
- https://groundup.org.za/media/uploads/documents/fjl_v_tgo_2026_25-220239_gj.pdf
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