20 Mar 2022

The Minister of Employment, Labour Productivity and Skills Development will use over P3.5m to roll out records management system to courts across the country.

The funds will also cover customisation of the Maun courtroom as well as furnishing and installation of the Local Area Network. Minister Machana Shamukuni said this when presenting the Industrial Court’s budget estimates for the 2022/23 financial year recently.

He said the Industrial Court continued to put measures in place to curb the backlog of cases with 964 cases pending before the courts against 1 124 in the last reporting period.

He said 12 per cent of the pending cases were considered backlog as they were more than 24 months old, compared to a 15 per cent backlog in the last financial year, a development he attributed to training accorded judicial officers.

“In dispensing cases, the court remains committed to complying with international set standards of delivering judgement within three months from the time a case is completed and on average the turnaround time on judgements is 3.8 months, which is an improvement from 4.1 months reported last financial year,” he said.

Again, Mr Shamukuni indicated that the court continued to train staff and judicial officers on judicial ethics, reconciliation, enterprise risk and mediation, among others, so to improve service delivery through use of virtual platforms.

He also told MPs that efforts were underway to train judicial officers on human trafficking and its impact on labour.

On other issues, he said the Industrial Court had established a semi-permanent court in Selebi Phikwe, which was completed in May last year and would start operation during the first quarter of the next financial year.

To bring the court’s services to the people, he said the new Maun Industrial Court would help  ease the burden on the Francistown Industrial Court.

He said a judge position had been created for the Maun catchment area and recruitment of judicial officers was underway. That, he said would ensure that circuit courts were conducted on a regular basis in the surrounding areas such as Ghanzi, Kasane, Shakawe and Gweta, thereby expanding its reach and accessibility.

In response to MPs contributions, Mr Shamukuni thanked them for supporting the proposed budget estimates, which he said would enable the court to implement its mandate in promoting relations in a tripartite manner or in collaboration with social partners. He also said the ministry was in the process of increasing capacity at labour offices to enable them to resolve and mediate on issues instead of referring them to industrial courts.
The minister denied allegations that people had lost interest and trust in the Industrial Court, saying ‘the process of mediation and arbitration began at the labour office, where most cases are settled, hence there is no need to refer them to the Industrial Court’. Further, Mr Shamukuni informed MPs that the ministry was in the process of reviewing labour laws to close some gaps, particularly issue of equity.
He added that particular focus would be to amend the Trade Dispute Act and Employment Act with amendment bills expected to be brought before Parliament in July. He said the ministry was also looking into coming up with the Occupational Health and Safety Policy, which would be presented to Cabinet.

“The intention is to develop a programme around implementation of the policy to address many cases that centre around injuries in the workplace as well as health conditions that developed as a result of working in unhealthy conditions.

It has been a challenge to resolve such cases as there was no proper policy to guide the court,” he said.

He also told Parliament that the Industrial Court anticipated to extend its services to other areas, but was challenged by insufficient funds.

He added that the court had thus established satellite or circuit courts in effort to reach out to other areas. “The circuit courts will help attend to cases referred to industrial courts in different localities and we will, in future, introduce virtual courts to fast-track resolution of labour disputes,” he added.

Some MPs had expressed concern about the delay in resolving labour disputes and incapacitated labour offices, which they argued impacted negatively on their mediation duties.

MPs had also called for the review of the Employment Act and Trade and Disputes Act.

They had also called for increased access to industrial courts, particularly in areas that had no access to such services.

Presenting the Industrial Court’s budget estimates earlier, Minister Shamukuni requested Parliament to approve over P44m, out of which P41m would cover the organisation’s recurrent budget, out of which P3.5m would be used under the development budget. ENDS