20 Mar 2019

 Employment, Labour Productivity and Skills Development minister, Mr Tshenolo Mabeo has requested Parliament to approve a P49.4 million budget for the Industrial Court.

Presenting the budget proposal on March 19, Minister Mabeo indicated that the budget comprised a recurrent budget totaling P41.2 million and a development budget amounting to P8.2 million.

He said the P41.2 million recurrent budget represented a decrease of P843 580 from that of the current financial year, which stood at P42 million.

Mr Mabeo explained that while an increase had been recorded in personnel emoluments, other items including operational expenditure had registered a decrease.

As for the development budget, he stated that the ministry would require P8.2 million to cover the Maun circuit court cabling and Local Area Network overhaul, procurement of a vehicle for court annexed mediation, development of Case Management System and the purchase of associated hardware and software.

Regarding the work of the Industrial Court during the 2018/19 financial year, Mr Mabeo said from April last year to January 2019, a total of 1 191 cases were registered, marking an increase by 197 cases when compared to the same period in the preceding financial year, where 994 cases were registered.

The minister noted that the court continued to make considerable progress in its efforts to fight the backlog of cases.

He indicated that out of the 1 248 cases pending before the court, 298 of them were more than 24 months old and therefore deemed to be backlog.

Mr Mabeo said in the last financial year there were 125 pending judgements, of which 118 remained pending by end of December 2018.

He added that the court remained commitment to delivery of decisions within three months of the completion of a matter.

Further, Minister Mabeo indicated that during the year under review, judges and registrars were trained on Judicial Case Management and Court Annexed Mediation, adding that this was in acknowledgement that court processes and systems had to be efficient in facilitating employer and employee to attain labour justice.

He said the training had enhanced case disposal as judges had been exposed to the benefits of Judicial Case Management.

In addition, the minister said the court had also held a stakeholders conference, the objective of which was to give feedback on court reforms and to receive feedback on areas requiring improvement. ENDS