Case note: That Resignation is not Retractable or is Irreversible: What is the Prejudice? Monareng v Dr J S Moroka Municipality [2022] 43 IJL 1855 (LC)

• Citation: (2025) 37 SA Merc LJ 105
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.47348/SAMLJ/v37/i1a5
• Published date: 15 October 2025
• Pages: 105-114
• Author: Munarini, N.A.
• Date: 15 October 2025

JOBNAME: SAMLJ Vol 31 Part 1 PAGE: 1 SESS: 20 OUTPUT: Tue Sep 2 14:59:33 2025 SUM: 32AAC001

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Case notes

THAT RESIGNATION IS NOT RETRACTABLE

OR IS IRREVERSIBLE: WHAT IS THE

PREJUDICE? MONARENG V DR J S MOROKA

MUNICIPALITY [2022] 43 IJL 1855 (LC)

NDIFELANI ARTHUR MUNARINI*

Adjudicator at Road Traffic Infringement Agency

LUX KWENA KUBJANA**

Senior Lecturer at Mercantile Law Department, College of Law,

University of South Africa

I INTRODUCTION

The quality of living life satisfactorily and thus to the fullest is dependent on a

few factors. These include but are not limited to self-suff‌iciency. Generally, the

status of being employed provides such self-suff‌iciency, fulf‌ilment and

improves your quality of life. (Bakkeli ‘Health, work, and contributing factors

on life satisfaction: A study in Norway before and during the COVID 19

pandemic’, available at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/

pii/S2352827321000793 accessed on 11 October 2024). The German

Constitutional Court held that, work shapes and completes the individual

over a lifetime of devoted activity... it is the foundation of a person’s existence

(Pharmacy case (German) 7 BVerfGE 377 (1958) 274, De Waal et al, The Bill of

Rights Handbook (2005) at 488). Further, your work is part of your identity

and is constitutive of your dignity (Affordable Medicines Trust & others v

Minister of Health & another 2006 (3) SA 247 (CC) par 59). It is against this

backdrop that the fairness and the rationale of the decision in Monareng vDR J

S Moroka Municipality (2022) 8 BLLR 756 (LC); (2022) 43 ILJ 1855 (LC) and

like cases are questioned. This note is critical of the reasoning of the court and

its mechanical application of the common-law view that resignation is not

* LLB, LLM (Unisa).

** LLB, LLM (Unisa).

002 - SA Mercantile Law - September 2, 2025

105 https://doi.org/10.47348/SAMLJ/v37/i1a5

(2025) 37 SA Merc LJ 105

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