29 Aug 2013

Francistown Industrial Court assistant registrar, Ms Segomo Mothotho says a high number of entitlement and unlawful dismissal cases has been registered by her institution.

Addressing Francistown full council on August 27, Ms Mothotho said the situation was a result of either employers being negligent or lacked information about industrial laws. She said in 2012, they registered 1 965 cases, while from 2004-2012, the court registered 16 720 cases, which 9 805 of them have been disposed and 6 915 are still pending settlement.

Ms Mothotho lamented the backlog of cases, which dated back to  2010, explaining that these were cases which had never entered the ajudication stage. She further explained that there were other cases before 2010 which were still in the court system due to delays by various reasons.

Ms Mothotho said the backlog was as a result of the economic meltdown which led to many companies retrenching their staff while some employers shunned mediation by district labour offices and refused to submit to mediation.

She said due to the long duration of settling cases, some plaintiff had lost courage to pursue their cases while some had changed locations and could no longer pursue the cases. However, Ms Mothotho emphasised that the Industrial Court was working around the clock to process cases.

She said from February 2012, they had backlog of cases from 2006 but currently they were working on 2010 backlog cases, which showed their steady progress. Furthermore, she said they had proposed a legislative review to empower district labour offices and other mediators to reduce backlog of cases.

Councillor for Donga, Mr Ben Mpotokwane said there was need to empower district labour departments by imposing heavy fines on employers who failed to appear for mediation. Meanwhile, councillor for Ikageng, Mr Tabengwa Tabengwa enquired if there were still employers who failed to appear for cases to the industrial Court. He also enquired about which working sectors had many cases at the industrial Court.

The councillor for Monarch west, Mr Godfrey Kaelo asked about a situation where a company changes names, while they still have a case at Industrial court, while the councillor for Boikhutso ward, Mr Robert Mosweu enquired about charges, which defendants face for failure to appear in court.

In response, assistant registrar said security companies are leading in numbers of unlawful dismissal and entitlement cases. She also highlighted that the retail and infrastructure sectors are leading in labour disputes in Francistown.

Ms Mothotho said under circumstances where a company changes name, they advise the plaintiff to use the directors of the said company as second respondents, which will enable them to pursue that case. She further explained that that the industrial court does not award costs of any suit but rather they apply punitive costs in case a case is delayed deliberately, explaining that case registration is free.

She further said in a case of failure to appear in court, it is difficult to charge the defendant under contempt of court, because they will have to bring proof of contempt. She said a case can proceed on the absence of the defendant and a default judgment order will be issued.

Currently, they are embarking on public awareness campaigns to sensitise the public on labour laws and have proposed a legislative review to empower the District labour offices, which will reduce a backlog of cases. Ends