In an interesting but shocking judgment from the Supreme Court of Appeal by Judge Maya, I quote the following: “This narrative starkly shows the Commissioners persistent and unexplained breaches of the settlement order and the flouting of the courts a quo’s directives in the various proceedings. It shows the utter disdain of the Commissioner, a senior state official entrusted with a vitally important social welfare responsibility and vast public funds (unnecessarily wasted by his persistently contemptuous conduct), for the Court, its procedures and its orders. The worst affront to the Court is that he could not even be bothered to explain himself why he repeatedly failed to comply with its order. Thus he placed no facts before the Court a quo establishing reasonable doubt that he is non-compliance with the settlement order was not wilful and mala fide. I can only agree with the appellant that the Commissioners conduct was scandalous and deserving of the strictest censure possible. It proved its case warranting his committal to prison beyond reasonable doubt.”

In this shocking and devastating judgment, the judges all agreed that the Workmen’s Compensation had fallen apart and needed a complete review.

Happily, we can report that there is a new Commissioner Mr Vuyo Mafata who is doing his utmost to try and correct the wrongs of the last decade. We wish him strength in his endeavours.

On another issue altogether, the equal pay claims are going to lead to a lot of litigation, we are advising all our clients and members of Altitude to carefully assess the workplace in order to show full reasons as to why all employees can’t be treated equally. The law does permit fair differentiation between employees doing the same or equal work. There are many challenges from the trade unions but we are ably refuting these challenges whenever they arise. Our employees can be remunerated for good work and for length of service and can be treated on a differential basis if they are able to show that the differentiation is not based on discriminatory grounds. Please call us in to help you on this issue.

Your faithfully

MICHAEL BAGRAIM