Position, academic & professional qualifications

Dr Kamalesh Newaj has been a lecturer in the Department of Mercantile Law since 1 October 2015. She was promoted to senior lecturer on 1 January 2021. Her specialisation is in the field of labour law and she holds the following qualifications: B Com (Law); LLB; HDIP (Labour Law); LLM (cum laude) and LLD. Her LLD thesis is titled: “An appraisal of the provision of ‘benefits’ as an unfair labour practice in South African labour law.”

Newaj is an advocate of the High Court and an associate member of the Pretoria Society of Advocates.

Academic and professional experience

Prior to joining the University, Newaj worked primarily in the Public Service, in the field of labour law. She has worked in various public sector Departments. Her last position was at the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform where she held the position of Director: Labour Relations. She also has experience in the bargaining council environment, as she managed the collective bargaining component at the Public Health and Social Development Sectoral Bargaining Council (PHSDSBC).

Teaching activities

Subjects she has taught include: labour law, social security law and commercial law.

Areas of specialisation

Her main field of interest is in Labour Law and Social Security Law.

Publications (2016-2020)

• "The impact of dishonesty on employment: Edcon, prior and beyond", Vol 79, 2016, THRHR 429-442.
•  "Appraisal of Automatically Unfair Dismissal and Retrenchment after the amendments", Vol 19, 2016, PER 1-30 (Co-author S Van Eck).
• "Resolving the Benefits Dilemma", Vol 30, 2018, South African Mercantile Law Journal 91-114.
• "Establishing Jurisdiction in respect of Unfair Labour Practices relating to the provision of 'Benefits'", Vol 31, 2019, South African Mercantile Law Journal 29-53.
• "Can Employees be Fairly Dismissed for Refusing to Accept a Demand? A Discussion of National Union of Metalworkers of SA & others v Aveng Trident Steel (A Division of Aveng Africa (Pty) Ltd) & another (2019) 40 ILJ 2024 (LAC)", Volume 41, 2020, Industrial law Journal 834-845.
• "Defining Fairness in Dismissals of Unauthorised Foreign Nationals", Vol 23, 2020, PER 1-25.
• "Does the Incorrect Classification of Misconduct Charges Constitute Substantive Unfairness? EOH Abantu v CCMA (2019) 40 ILJ 2477 (LAC)", Volume 41(3), 2020, Obiter 631-641.
• "The Constitutional Court on the rights of minority trade unions in a majoritarian collective bargaining system", Volume 10, 2020, Constitutional Court Review 331-351 (Co-author S Van Eck).

Conference Attendance (2016-2020)

• Emerging Legal Scholarship Conference, NMMU, February 2016: Paper Presented: "Section 187(1)(c): making sense of this automatically unfair dismissal".
• Labour Relations Law in South Africa: Twenty Years of Law making and Adjudication Conference, UNISA, August 2016: Paper Presented: "The provision of 'benefits' as an unfair labour practice in South African labour law".
• Constitutional Court Review Conference, Constitution Hill, Johannesburg, University of Johannesburg 29-30 August 2019: Paper Presented: "The Constitutional Court on the Rights of Minority Trade Unions in a Majoritarian Collective Bargaining System".
• ILO Centenary Conference, Future Africa, Pretoria, University of Pretoria 4-5 October 2019: Paper Presented: "Rights of minority trade unions: perspectives from the ILO and CC".

Tel: +27 12 420 3153

E-mail:kamalesh.newaj[email protected]

Online profiles:

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