THE Department of Correctional Services has decided not to appeal a Supreme Court of Appeal's decision made two weeks ago confirming a Labour Court judgment that five former Pollsmoor Prison employees fired for their dreadlocks be reinstated.

James Lebatlang, Cohen Jacobs, Thamsanqa Ngqula, Lucky Kamlana and Mduduzi Kubheka were fired in June 2007 for contravening the department's dress code policy.

The policy states that employees' hair may not be cut in any "punk style", including "dreadlocks", and that it may not be longer than the collar of the shirt when folded down or cover more than half of the ear.

Departmental spokesman Koos Gerber said yesterday: "The Department of Correctional Services has noted the judgment by the Supreme Court of Appeal and will be adhering to the judgment of the Labour Court."

For Lebatlang, the decision, made almost six years after he lost his job, came as a cold comfort.

"It was a very difficult time in my life, but fortunately I had a very strong wife," said Lebatlang. "In 2007 my wife had a baby, I had a car which was later repossessed, and in 2010 my eldest son finished matric. My sister passed away and I couldn't contribute to her funeral ... it was a difficult time."

In 2011 he got a job with the Western Cape department of social development, but a week after he started working [at a detention centre for youths] he was told the government's Persal System had indicated he should not have been employed as he had an outstanding case.

Nicolene Jacobs said her husband's dismissal forced the family into poverty. "We had to sell our house and our car, and it affected our children badly because we couldn't pay school fees and buy them clothes," said Jacobs.

Her family only survived through the goodwill of extended family.

A defiant Kubheka said he will not be cutting his locks when he turns up for duty: "I never cut my dreadlocks, they had never affected my ability to do my work."