LUDZIDZINI COUNCIL RULES ON LABOUR CASE

MBABANE – The Ludzidzini Royal Council has ordered the reinstatement of a former employee of the Central Bank of Eswatini (CBE) who was dismissed in 2018.

Thoko Shongwe, who was employed by the bank as a cleaner for 12 years, took her case to the council after the issuance of a certificate of unresolved dispute by the Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration Commission (CMAC).

She was dismissed after being found guilty of forgery and unauthorised use of stamps by a disciplinary panel that heard her case in 2018.

After hearing all the sides of the matter, the royal council chaired by Chief Mdlaka Gamedze ruled that the CBE did not give itself time, exercise enough caution or follow all necessary procedures when dealing with Shongwe’s disciplinary case.

“It is for that reason that the council ordered the CBE to fully reinstate Thoko Shongwe or pay out her terminal benefits.”

Administration

Among those that had attended the matter before the council were then Human Resources Manager Majahonkhe Mngometulu, Sandile Dlamini who is the King’s emissary at the CBE and Acting General Manager Human Resources and Administration Gcebile Dlamini.

The ruling that was delivered on August 11, 2020 was based on factors including that in as much as Shongwe had admitted to using a stamp of the Commissioner of Oaths without permission, she had taken the initiative to inform the then Commissioner, Sydney Jele and further apologised.

“Thoko told the council that she took the stamp without consulting Jele and used it to endorse a letter she had written to intimidate her former lover whom she had had an altercation with. 

“However, she also said that she took it upon herself to confess before Jele, who in turn, forgave her.”

The council also noted that the matter went through a disciplinary hearing only for the reason that Jele had already reported what Shongwe had done to his employer, the CBE.

Procedure

It was noted that the DC did not go according to procedure as Shongwe was called for the hearing a bit later than the time within which a DC should take place after a person has been charged, which was 30 days, according to the Collective Agreement that the bank entered into with the union, the Swaziland Union of Financial Institutions and Allied Workers (SUFIAW).

“The workers’ union pointed out that procedurally, the matter was not supposed to kick off if the 30-day period had elapsed, but the governor insisted that it should proceed. It was also noted that the CBE did not bring any evidence against the employee save for the fact that she had personally admitted guilt,” the council noted.

Other loopholes that were highlighted by the council were that on the day of appeal, which was to be held at the Royal Villas in Ezulwini at 9am, Shongwe and the union representatives arrived at 9:10am, only to be told that they were already late, hence their case was not heard.

“When the matter was taken to CMAC, the then Human Resources Manager Majahonkhe Mngometulu stated in a letter he wrote that Thoko Shongwe and her representatives arrived at 10:10am.”

Contradiction

This was viewed as a contradiction to what Mngometulu reportedly wrote in another letter where he allegedly said Shongwe and her team failed to show up for the appeal hearing.

After hearing the matter, the council wanted to know if Shongwe and the bank had an underlying misunderstanding apart from the case in hand.

Shongwe told the council that there were two issues, one being that she suffered injuries to her eyes while working in the vaults where there was a lot of dust.

She said the bank took her to an eye specialist who concluded that her eyes were damaged as a result of the dust.

“The doctor ordered the bank to redeploy me to a safer department and they did. I also requested the bank to compensate me, but that never happened,” she said during an interview early in the week.

She said another issue, which she also raised before the council, was that she the bank wrote her a letter assigning her to be a relief switchboard operator, a position she was told she would get paid for after acting for three months. 

“I was doing both duties as a cleaner and a relief switchboard operator but I was never paid for that, despite that I wrote a letter to the bank requesting it to pay me for the four years that I had been a relief switchboard operator.”

The council considered Shongwe’s argument that the dismissal was too harsh a sentence as she had never been found guilty for any offence in the over 10 years that she had worked for the Central Bank of Eswatini.

CBE Head of Strategy and Communication Zithulele Gina confirmed knowledge of the case and the structures through which it has gone.

Reluctant

However, he said the bank was reluctant to discuss it outside the structure it was currently in.

Information reliably gathered by this publication is that there was another case involving a male former employee of the CBE that was also pending before the same council.

Attorney General Sifiso Khumalo said according to the Industrial Relations Act, cases relating to employers and employees were handled by CMAC, the Industrial Court and the Supreme Court.

“I am not aware of any other structure that may deal with labour disputes. The structures I have mentioned earlier on were established by the laws that were passed by Parliament and endorsed by the King,” he said.

Khumalo said it was important not to act in disregard of the law.

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