By Staff Reporter
The deputy secretary general of the Independent Democratic Union of Lesotho (IDUL), Clarke Letsie, is a tormented man.
Letsie’s disgruntlement is triggered by the huge number of unfinished cases piling up day in courts between employers and workers over an assortment of labour disputes.
This is evidenced by a huge pile of marked files cramped in a tiny office of the union at the Manonyane Centre building in Maseru city.
A sizeable number of these files contain labour disputes that have mushroomed between the employers and the trade union movements. Some of them have landed at the Directorate of Dispute Prevention and Resolution (DDPR) and the labour court and they are yet to be resolved.
The unresolved disputes involve big companies in the security, mining, clothing and textile, catering, construction and wholesale trading sectors.
And now, a myriad of challenges has caused an increase in the number of labour related cases resulting in a continued significant backlog as little efforts are carried out for adjudication of matters to finality.
Obviously, this has not only caused distress for the workers whose trust in their union officials is waning; it has also saw a mass exodus of workers from the union as some lose their jobs while awaiting judgments in their labour litigations.
An angry textile employee who talked on condition of anonymity as her matter is still to be resolved wondered why her “union (name withheld) is not exerting pressure on the powers that be to decide on our disputes with employers.”
“We have put our trust in our unions but it seems no headway is being made to bring disputes to an end. We might end up leaving the unions thinking that our leaders are not doing anything. The union officials have repeatedly told us the delays to hear our cases are a result of ‘limping bosses’ at the labour court,” she said.
Her case involves underpayment for working overtime ordered by her supervisors at a Thetsane-based textile firm two years ago.
Annoyed by highly disturbing delays for adjudication, Letsie observed: “It is so disappointing that there is some concerning delays for timely final decisions at the labour court.”
He was reminiscent of a three-month power failure at the labour court from August 2022 resulting in a stoppage of operations.
“That meant there were no proceedings conducted in the courtroom as cases dating as far back as 2015 were stalled with some already seeing several postponements. Sometimes court officers blame lack of resources. It’s just like file and forget,” he said.
In another case dating as far back as 2011, ‘Masechaba Mothibeli and other colleagues were dismissed at Precious Garments for not reporting for work on a weekend. The arrangement was made without the knowledge of their union.
The legislation requires that any decision by employer to alter normal weekdays to working in weekends is to be negotiated with the employee’s trade union. The labor court decided that the case be referred back to the DDPR in 2017.
“But such a decision has not been recorded in writing as required by the law. Up to now we have not received such a record so that it can be referred to the DDPR. This is just an example of how cases continue to pile up in courts as some judges delay to hand down judgements,” Letsie said, adding he suspected foul play.
The DDPR is an independent mechanism that prevents and resolves labour disputes between the workforce. It is meant to conciliate and or arbitrate in labour matters. Unlike the labour court, it operates in all the country’s 10 districts.
There are eight labour court cases dating as far back as 2015. These have been allocated dates but were postponed on several occasions.
The cases were set for hearing from June 23 to September this year.
IDUL enjoys membership in the sectors of mining, textile, security and hotels and restaurants.
Also testifying to the situation rattling the labour court was an official of Lentsoe la Sechaba trade union, Mokaoane Monaheng, who reiterated that last year’s prolonged power cut in labour court hit them hard.
“The court was closed and there were no proceedings at the time. We are calling for the effectiveness of the court. For example, a case relating to unfair dismissal should be finalised within a six-month period. But matters which are to have been completed are still pending (in court),” Monaheng said.
His colleague in the Lesotho Labour Council, Advocate Katleho Koali, legal officer of Construction. Mining and Quarrying association, appealed to government to enhance the labour court system by providing required resources such as court officers.
“The current labour court is ineffective and its operations threatens to tarnish public confidence in delivery of justice. The delayed unfair dismissal cases’ judgments lead to workers remaining numb and deterring them from seeking proper legal relief,” she warned.
But the president of the labour court, Tebello Thoso, is optimistic an introduction of a string of remedies will speed up delivery of justice by reducing the number of pending cases.
“For the first time since the inception of this court (many years ago) we will hold a roving court meant to fast-track delivery of justice in a decentralised manner. Soon, we will go to Leribe deal with cases in northern districts region.
“The plan is that after a month, judgments will be delivered. At the end of financial year 2023/24 we will assess how far we have achieved in such services,” he promised.
Subsequently, the roving court will hear and decide on matters in the southern districts provided funds are timely allocated by the ministry of labour and employment.
Thoso indicated that the court has devised a system to engage the recently appointed two labour court deputy presidents to work each for a month to deal specifically with pending judgements.
While that arrangement is intended to deliver judgements, it is faced with some difficulties such as lack of resources like internet infrastructure, power failure, shortage of books on decided cases, he noted.
“These tools help provide quality judgements.”
The shortage of power supply between February and May this year had also delayed cases, he added.
Thoso said some legal practitioners who appear for employers in labour disputes had a tendency to use courts to avert administration of justice by lodging judgements review resulting in prolonging the final decision.
This, according to him, is an added challenge to an already existing shortage of staff at the court.
“Since I arrived six months ago, we have introduced a practice that a rule is delivered within 90 days as a practice obtained from the High Court system to speed up delivery of justice to all parties entangled in labour disputes,” he pointed out.
