By Staff Reporter
More than 200 disgruntled members of the Progressive Association of Lesotho Teachers (PALT) are to sue the organisation for alleged illegal deductions of membership fees from their salaries, theReporter has learned.
This was confirmed by the aggrieved teachers’ legal representative Advocate Letuka Molati. The litigation comes after some teachers decided to terminate their membership of the association. The tutors, from primary and high schools, decided to call it quits in June this year citing a litany of reasons.
But the organisation, an off-shoot of the Lesotho Association of Teachers (LAT), led by Paul Sematlane, has refuted their plea to quit.
Despite this year’s June notification to say bye-bye to the association, PALT allegedly continued to deduct monthly subscription fees for the membership and the insurance policy monies. That has led to the teachers losing a total of M15 000 against their will over three months.
It remains to be seen whether such unwelcome deductions will be effected for the month of October as teachers are yet to lay their hands on their pay slips.
Each teacher contributes a monthly fee of M25 which is deducted from the monthly earnings that go into the coffers of the association.
Now, they are planning to seek relief from the courts for a stoppage of the deductions from their monthly financial gains as teachers.
Central to their argument is that their right to freedom of association is being violated by the association which they had joined voluntarily until they decided to pull out.
They had notified their association about their immediate decision, calling on it to stop membership fees deductions from the pay.
In their letter addressed to the association on June 22 2021, the teachers wrote to end their membership with immediate effect. They requested that their subscription fee to be deducted from their salaries in June to pay for July subscription be their last payment to serve as notice.
The reasons forwarded were that “they are not satisfied with the way PALT is handling teachers’ affairs in terms of negotiating their dissatisfaction with the government.”
The issue emanated from a majority of teachers’ associations demanding a rise in their monthly pay, a move that plunged them into loggerheads with the government. That resulted in pro-longed teachers’ nationwide strike in 2019.
The labour action saw several schools closing their doors to learners in both primary and high schools three teachers’ organisations.
“The association has not respected the right of teachers when they tried to terminate their membership over the years as individuals; the association denied them that and has continued to deduct subscription fees by force.
“The teachers have lost interest in the association and therefore demand that it stops all payment deductions from them to it be it subscription of PALT insurance policies. The listed teachers have no loans with PALT or any of its affiliates,” the teachers said in a letter signed by the grouping’s secretary ‘Makabelo Mafantiri and its coordinator Mangubeni Dlamini.
The disturbed teachers added furiously: “If for any reasons, PALT has unresolved issues with the listed members of teachers or this group as a whole that prohibits the cancellation, it can ally its grievances with the coordinator of the group by requesting an appointment with her and the secretary of the group. This shall be done before the deductions for July subscriptions are made.”
But due to PALT failure to act on their plea, the teachers threatened to take the association “to the courts of law for its injustices.”
The aggrieved teachers’ coordinator, Dlamini. told the tabloid the association was trampling on their right to associate. She said the individuals had voluntarily chosen to associate with the PALT. But when they opted to call it quit, they were denied that choice.
She was clear that such a right to associate was contained in the country’s constitution “and that it is their free choice to cease associating with PALT.”
Dlamini told this publication that the group has resorted to taking legal action against the association. She said it has already consulted with Maseru-based lawyer Advocate Molati to slap PALT with a lawsuit.
She said yesterday the association was continuing to assess the contributions since July this year. The group, she noted, was tipped that the registrar of trade unions had sought a meeting with the PALT leadership to warn them against the breach. But the teacher movement has continued to gain their “fees dubiously.”
The lawyer confirmed such a lawsuit was underway as he had been approached to deal with the matter.
He explicitly clarified: “We are to file the court papers where we will show that it is wrong to deduct teachers’ contributions when they are no more members (of association).
“I cannot understand why if one has freedom of association why compel one to be member when one wants to stop. Why does government continue to make deductions when the (teachers) made the decision voluntarily?” Molati wondered.
He was shocked: “It’s surprising that you compel one to be a member when no longer don’t want to be a member.”
They had lodged their complaint with the director of the teaching service department to intervene (TSD), Nathaniel Motaba, who invited them together with the PALT executive representatives were invited to the meeting.
The accountant general, ‘Malehlohonolo Mahase, minced no words to say she had consulted the education ministry officials to be furnished with full information. She said she was yet to meet PALT authorities. She said the company facilitating such deductions for all public servants was CIDAS. It had been awarded such work by the government, she said.
When the publication wanted to quiz her about the new developments yesterday, her mobile went unanswered.
But the publication could not track the company as at the time it was not available on the register of companies.
According to the legislation, the TSD director is the secretary of the teaching service commission (TSC) which oversees the teaching service profession both in primary and high school learning.
The TSD director, Nathaniel Motaba, had said he had been approached by the teachers for a possible intervention as their pay master. But the attempts were futile as the PALT representatives chose to abandon the meeting at his offices.
He said he had written to the accountant general’s office requesting information about CIDAS. But he claimed not to have received any response.
Motaba requested the accountant general to “assist with information to shed light on the engagement of an entity CIDAS (said to be the one having access to teachers stop order and able to deduct teachers’ salaries),”
He firmly continued: “What complicates matters for us to respond accordingly to teachers is that they only know TSD as their pay master in terms of the law and do not know and have never had any interactions with CIDAS. Equally interesting is that nobody in the department knows the entity except that it is there.”
Mahase had confirmed that CIDAS was entrusted to facilitate any deductions from public servants’ salaries monthly after it secured the tender to perform such work in a five-year period.
PALT organiser who led PALT representation during the TSD meeting, Koali Koali, referred the tabloid to one only known as Motṧelisi. She in turn turned away the scribe saying it was the organisation’s Koali who should be interviewed.
