11 Jul 2019

Government has no plans to establish district labour courts due to resource constraints,  Minister of Employment, Labour Productivity and Skills Development, Mr Tshenolo Mabeo has told Parliament.

 Mr Mabeo, who was responding to a question  explained that the Industrial court had however adopted several strategies to enhance service delivery adding that the court had increased the number of Judges from four in 2004 to nine in 2019 of which seven were based in Gaborone and two stationed in Francistown.

 Minister Mabeo stated that the court also continued to conduct circuit courts in Maun, Selibe Phikwe, Palapye, Kanye, Jwaneng, Ghanzi, Letlhakane and Kasane.

 He said the industrial court had also introduced reforms which were aimed at expediting  trade disputes like judicial case management which placed supervision and management of cases under a particular Judge and Court Annexed Mediation which involved taking all cases that were ready for trial through mediation within the court system.

Furthermore, Mr Mabeo stated that the amendment of the Employment Act and Trade Dispute Act forms part of the on-going review of labour laws whose objective was to close the gaps in the labour laws, align the laws with the court judgment and international labour convention.

 He said a tripartite labour law review committee had been tasked to carry out the review of labour laws with the assistance of the international labour organisation adding that the amendment of the said act was holistic and was based on proposals submitted by the tripartite constituents.

 Meanwhile, Mr Mabeo informed Parliament that the minimum wages have been increased by 17 per cent for all sectors, with the exclusion of the agriculture and domestic sectors which have all been increased to P1000 per month with effect from July 1, 2019.

 Government, he said also decided to carry out a study on the effectiveness of the minimum wage and how it relates to productivity, global competitiveness and cost of living and the study was expected to be completed by March 2020 with the outcomes expected to inform decisions on minimum wages in the country.

Minister Mabeo was responding to Gaborone North MP, Mr Haskins Nkaigwa who had asked the minister to update Parliament as to when the Employment Act and Trade Dispute Act would be reviewed and aligned to current employment trends.

The Gaborone North legislator also asked if there were any plans by government to establish district labour courts and if there were any plans to review the minimum wage. ENDS