Bullard gets his day in court

According to Labour Court papers, Bullard will be seeking compensation for he believes was unfair dismissal and will be asking Avusa, owner of the Sunday Times, for full re-instatement.

David vs Goliath

While some might see this as a David vs Goliath contest or one of those court cases in which the side with the most money wins, Bullard is believed to have a "war chest" of almost half a million rands from donations by colleagues, followers and fans.

Avusa is likely to argue that Bullard was not an employee of the company and under contract and that unfair dismissal did not apply as the contract allowed for termination without notice.

Bullard's lawyers will probably argue that if he was hired as an “independent contractor” why then did he have permanent desk, parking for 11 years and issued with company business cards? He was, they will claim, treated as an employee for so long he was, to all intents and purposes, a member of staff.

Backlash

Bullard's dismissal was clouded in controversy, mostly because the offending column that he wrote passed through all of the newspaper's checks and balances without anyone raising a red flag and cautioning against its publication. It was only after a backlash from many quarters that the Sunday Times dismissed Bullard.

Bullard has since apologised for the offending column and has also appeared on an ANC election platform as an effort it seems, to make amends with the ruling party and also to defuse legal action over his comments about Jacob Zuma.

It is no secret that, although Bullard continues to make a living out of public appearances, speaking engagements and website contributions, he was shunned to the point of being blacklisted by the bulk of the newspaper industry after his "racist" column incident and subsequent dismissal.

The outcome of this Labour Court action is going to be very interesting, both from the point of view of newspaper publishers and the responsibility they bear in terms of monitoring what their columnists are writing but also from a lot of journalists in South Africa who will be coming under increasing pressure if the "protection" they have always enjoyed from their publishers starts falling away and they have to start facing litigation on their own.