20 Mar 2014

Parliament has approved the development and recurrent budget proposal for the Industrial Court, amounting to P34 million for the 2014/15 financial year.

Responding to MPs debates on the proposed budget, Minister of Labour and Home Affairs, Mr Edwin Batshu thanked MPs for their suggestions aimed at improving the delivery of justice within industrial courts.

He said government found it fit to establish the Industrial Court to execute the mandate of settling trade disputes and promoting good industrial relations.

Minister Batshu said the expansion of the Francistown division of the Industrial Court and an increase of judges for the courts was a sign of government’s commitment to the course.

He said the 7 213 pending cases were undesirable, but circumstances beyond anyone’s control led to this. He said all matters ended up at the Industrial Court, even those that would have been dealt with at labour offices hence the increased number of pending cases.

He said the impending Trade Dispute Act would ease execution of cases and that the government was considering setting up an Independent Dispute Resolution Structure.

Contributing to the debate, the Vice President and MP for Mmadinare, Dr Ponatshego Kedikilwe said he was concerned about backlog of cases of unfair dismissal that the employers hardly turn up for mediation or hearing of such cases.

Dr Kedikilwe said such cases end up dragging until they were referred to Industrial Court, whereas they could have been arbitrated at labour offices.  He suggested that the Trade Dispute Act should empower labour officers to punish intransigent employers who do not turn up for mediation.

Dr Kedikilwe further suggested that organisations should have shop-stewards who could empower employees and employers on labour relations issues. He also suggested that there should be an inspectorate put in place to ensure adherence of safety issues for employees as this would also ensure that employers adhere to good labour practices.

MP for Mahalapye West, Mr Bernard Bolele concurred that some employers deliberately trample on the rights of employees to the extent that they do not attend mediation at labour offices.

He said they did this with the full knowledge that certificate would be issued for the matter to be referred to the Industrial Court where they know punishment would be of little impact.  Mr Bolele said the assumption was that Industrial Court judges do not have the same powers as those at the High Court.

He proposed that the Industrial Court be transferred to the Administration of Justice so that its judges would command the same respect as judges of the High Court. In this way, he said employers would not take the rights of employees’ for granted.

For his part, MP for Kanye North, Mr Kentse Rammidi called for speedy mediation of unfair dismissal cases especially that in most cases they concern low-income people, who cannot afford to hire lawyers to represent them.

He suggested that there should be regional magistrates to push the backlog of cases. ENDS