Directive No. 10 of 2001 haunts gov’t

Justice Boipuso Tshweneyagae of the Gaborone High Court has ensured that at least 219 employees of the then Ministry of Infrastructure, Science and Technology will be laughing all the way to the bank. Hilda Moenyane Koorapetse and 218 others will finally reap the rewards of a lawsuit they instituted against their employer in 2016.

On October 31, 2016, the employees instituted action against the Attorney General and the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Infrastructure, Science and Technology. The applicants sought an order declaring that the plaintiffs are entitled to benefit from Directive No. 10 of 2001. The Public Service Management Directive No. 10 of 2001 states that the three-year progression requirement scheme of service from one grade to another, which was in practice, was unnecessarily long and should be replaced with the two-year progression one.

They further wanted “an order declaring unlawful the government’s failure to apply Directive No. 10 of 2001 in favour of the employees and to extend the benefits derived from the application of Directive No. 10 of 2001 to the plaintiffs; an order declaring the defendants to implement Directive No. 10 of 2001 in favour of the plaintiffs with retroactive effect; an order directing the defendants to place the plaintiffs in the position they would have been had the directive been properly applied in their favour; an order directing the defendants to pay the plaintiffs the salary arrears that resulted from the wrongful implementation of the Directive; costs of suit; further and/or alternative relief.” According to court documents, the government party never filed any papers in opposition to the workers’ action or claims.

“On March 20, 2017, the parties entered into a settlement agreement in terms whereof the applicants were inter alia given three months from the date of the order to calculate the respective sums of money due to the respondents. The parties were to meet at the

Attorney General’s Chambers to discuss and agree on the sum of money payable to the respondents by the applicants. On December 7, 2017, almost nine months later, the applicant brought an application for rescission of the aforesaid order. In the same application, the applicants sought leave to file their appearance to defend the action,” reads court papers.

Justice Tshweneyagae said the government did not make out a case for rescission either under the common law or the rules of the High Court. She dismissed the application with costs.

In a similar case concluded in Botswana courts recently, some 175 employees in the Ministry of Agricultural Development and Food Security got a similar award from the Court of Appeal.

The ministry appealed the decision of the High court, which then ruled in favour of the respondents (175 employees). When delivering judgement, a panel of justices; Isaac Lesetedi, Mercy Gaarekwe and Zibane Makwade, ruled in favour of the employees.