Court battle with suspended Stanlib boss far from over

MBABANE – The court battle between Liberty Life Swaziland and suspended Stanlib boss Abel Sibandze is far from over as it goes back to court today.

This time around, Liberty Life Swaziland together with Stanlib Swaziland have applied for a review application against the judgment issued by Industrial Court Judge Nkosinathi Nkonyane. Nkonyane’s judgment set aside the intended disciplinary hearing for Sibandze which was supposed to take place in Johannesburg South Africa.

Setting aside the disciplinary hearing, Judge Nkonyane said it was not shown that Sibandze is subject to the Disciplinary Code and Procedure applicable to employees of Liberty group and its wholly owned subsidiaries operating in South Africa.
In his founding affidavit Nicholas Trevor Haines, the HR business partner for Liberty Africa Group, contends that in his judgment Justice Nkonyane does not deal with the facts raised in his answering affidavit.

“By entertaining an aspect that was not part and parcel of the issue raised as preliminary points, the second respondent took irrelevant considerations into account and ignored relevant ones,” he argues.
He contends that the order made by the judge i. e that the point in law raised by Sibandze be upheld, confirms the fact that the judge, without giving any reason therefore, failed to take into account that the High Court has already ruled on the same point and that the issue was moot.

“His order was in the circumstances grossly unreasonable,” said Haines in his affidavit.
He argues that the second order made by Justice Nkonyane, setting aside the disciplinary hearing, is likewise grossly unreasonable as it was unsupported by evidence, was not argued at all and was never dealt with as one of the points of law raised by the parties.

He submits that the judge’s order in this regard was arrived at arbitrarily or capriciously, particularly in view of the fact that the judge stated clearly during argument that he was not dealing with the merits of the application i. e interdicting the disciplinary hearing but was only dealing with the two points in law raised by the parties.
The matter will be argued in court today. Sibandze is represented by lawyer Nkululeko Hlophe of Magagula and Hlophe Attorneys.
     
 
 

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