The Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs is to investigate whether the troubled Lobatse Tile Limited did not flout labour regulations during its recent retrenchment exercise.
This follows a complaint in Parliament this week by Lobatse MP, Nehemiah Modubule. The Botswana National Front MP queried that although Lobatse Tile Limited retrenched some workers in September 2006 claiming that their posts were redundant, the company then employed other workers to take up the posts.
Labour and Home Affairs Minister, Moeng Pheto told parliament that “in terms of the Employment Act, redundancy refers to a situation where the employer determines that the number of employees exceeds the requirements of the business, necessitating the reduction of the workforce.
“As required by the law, Lobatse Tile Limited, informed the Commissioner of Labour and Social Security by a letter dated September 5, 2006, that the company intended to go through a redundancy exercise. In the same correspondence the company undertook to follow the law.”
Pheto said the extent to which the law was followed has not been established as no complaint was lodged with the Lobatse Labour office. “However I now undertake to cause an investigation on the redundancy exercise at the Lobatse Tile Limited.”
