Ex-manager wins
MBABANE – The Industrial Court has set aside the dismissal of a Lidwala Insurance Company manager, whose position was declared redundant last year.
Judge Lungile Msimango found that Sikhumbuzo Nkambule was not properly consulted as he got to know on October 25, 2022 that his position was redundant and was served with the dismissal letter on the same day.
Nkambule of Ntondozi held the position of Business Development Manager when he was dismissed last year. He told the court that he was employed by the company by virtue of an employment contract signed on October 6, 2021. He said he never applied for the position, but was handpicked as the post was not advertised.
Invited
Nkambule stated that he was invited by the managing director to forward his curriculum vitae as the company was looking for someone with his skills and experience to head both marketing and business development.
He told the court that he was confirmed in April 2022 to a permanent position of business development manager after undergoing a six months probation period.
However, he submitted that on October 24, 2022, on short notice, he received a letter from the human resource executive inviting him to a consultation meeting on the following day as his position was considered redundant.
Nkambule said he duly attended the meeting and requested to be advised on the criteria used in rendering his position redundant as the company had achieved the previous year’s targets and was constantly meeting monthly targets in the current year.
He said he also wanted to be advised on the options considered by the company to avoid the redundancy and sought to understand if the employer had considered the principle of last in - first out since under his portfolio there were junior staff members who were employed later than him.
According to Nkambule, the human resource executive failed to respond to his concerns and advised him that his concerns would be submitted to the investment cluster CEO for consideration and response.
He argued that the investment cluster CEO was heading Inyatsi Group of Companies and not Lidwala Insurance Company. This was confusing, according to Nkambule, because it was the managing director of Lidwala Insurance Company who had to come forth with responses to the concerns regarding the redundancy.
He told the court that without any response to the concerns raised with the human resource executive, on October 25, 2022, he received a letter confirming that his services were being terminated. Nkambule said the manner in which the exercise was being conducted constituted an unfair labour practice on the part of the employer.
Required
The letter, said Nkambule, came into effect on November 30, 2022. He said it stated that he was not required to report to work upon receipt of the letter. On November 9, 2022, he said, he reminded the employer in a letter about the concerns he had raised with the human resource executive, which were not responded to. He submitted that he received a response to the letter and the contents were on a without prejudice basis.
He said the letter terminating his services constituted an unfair labour practice and was null and void in that there had never been any retrenchment process at Lidwala Insurance Company as the consultation exercise was not exhausted.
The purported retrenchment exercise,