By: John Saunderson

I will dissect and respond to the article chronological order as far as possible.

Before I go there, it begs to be said that the speech of the minister could not have come at a better time. This rhetoric by the minister in general attempts to picture the office of the Labour Commissioner as providing to the public a service that is not flawed by any incompetence and or very questionable actions.

I need to point out in a very strong way that Arbitrators and Labour Inspectors are known for colluding and siding with employers and apply discretion very poorly almost to the point of being able to be perceived as abusing discretion.

Have a look at labour appeals made to the Labour Court – in those judgments you will, in more than 70% of the cases, easily read the Judge is making very strong remarks that displays his/her dissatisfaction with the competence and or application of discretion of a reasonable Arbitrator.

Now, on the part of us consultants and lawyers, there are no misconceptions on how the Commissioner’s office should operate.

The misconception is created by our experience with this office – Arbitrators making decisions in favour of employers when the evidence is clear; an example of which we have right here in Otjiwarongo.

We have submitted complaints and evidence of incompetence and intentional sabotage of justice through unannounced delays from Arbitrators regularly, Arbitrators being very considerate and lenient to employers when it comes to non-compliance to laid down procedures, Arbitrators taking years in many instances to provide setdown dates for Arbitration, Arbitrators denying complainants their chosen representation; all of which is directed to create frustration and losing hope; and unrepresented complainants and sometimes even represented complainants abandoning referrals they have made.

The backlog in unresolved referrals are due to Arbitrators’ intentional delays (to frustrate and if they are lucky enough will result in referrals being abandoned), conciliation and arbitration proceedings – unfortunately the public, including myself, became persistent in pursuing justice for the victims in labour disputes.

The modus operandi of Labour Inspectors, Conciliators and Arbitrators is resulting in the non-effective, costly and prolonged delays of labour cases.

More often than not, complainants have to travel back to towns or take leave to attend conciliation/arbitration where they filed their referrals only to arrive and find out that the Arbitrator is on ‘AWOL’ or the employer is not present – all tactics to prolong and demotivate complainants with the hope that complainants abandon cases.

The involvement of consultants and lawyers actually provides better chances for success of for example ensuring the filing of referral as a simple example.

As I write, I was approached yesterday (27 June 2023) – the employee said to me “labour don’t want to help me with making a referral because apparently there are already ‘thick’ files with unresolved referrals in regards to this security company.”

Recently in Otjiwarongo, at a free legal advice day hosted by the Law Society, when the Ministry of Labour officials were introduced, most citizens shook their heads from left to right and some even mumbled their disapproval of the Ministry.

There were many witnesses including lawyers, consultants and officials from the Office of the Ombudsman and the Master of the High Court.

Myself and many other people in Otjozondjupa have complained to the Office of the Ombudsman in Otjiwarongo. Even the inquiries from this office are being treated with disrespect and go unanswered.

The allegation of all consultants and lawyers being the culprits in causing justice not to happen speedily and cost-effectively is an outright lie in my personal experience – I, nor any of my colleagues have ever requested postponements since we all of the time represent the workers/employees.

We frequently wait for years to have our day of justice – as an employee representative, you must have the heart of a lion and patience of a saint and always keep your cool otherwise your client sits without representation (personal experience).

It is anyways unconstitutional to deny a complainant his choice of representation; I must add this frequently happens here in Otjiwarongo.

In our demands for answers and requests for cooperation (employee representatives), the office of the Labour Commissioner and the Minister have done nothing, we are not aware of any measures to improve their service delivery – which essentially is all we ask.

Not even the inquiries from the Ombudsman and Anti-corruption Commission (ACC) have been addressed.

Roughly 18 months ago I was invited to attend a meeting at the ACC Otjiwarongo, where Arbitrators, the ACC, Governor’s office and the Ombudsman was present to discuss the public dissatisfaction with service delivery at our local offices of the Ministry of Labour – the Arbitrators and Admin Officer in the meeting demanded that I must be asked to leave and not attend.

The same Admin Officer used his office for corruption – all evidence submitted to the Ministry and ACC – and not long after that he resigned.

I am certain that the same issues are present and experienced by employee representatives countrywide, which I have picked up from numerous conversations with colleagues.

There is a sickness and misconception among Inspectors and Arbitrators in dealing with labour cases speedily and cost-effectively – our and my position on this sickness is that it is only one of two or both sometimes: corruption and or incompetence and the same Minister is doing nothing about our (us the public, consultants, lawyers, ACC and Ombuds officials’) requests and complaints.

I want to take the opportunity to thank the honourable Minister for opening this door; maybe now we will make progress in the speedy and cost-effective resolution of labour disputes.

John Saunderson is Labour Consultant and Human Rights Defender in Otjiwarongo