IN THE MATTER BETWEEN:

L MQEDE EMPLOYEE PARTY

and

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
WESTERN CAPE EMPLOYER PARTY

CONCILIATION/ARBITRATION REPORT AND ARBITRATION AWARD

DETAILS OF HEARING AND REPRESENTATION:

A conciliation/arbitration hearing was scheduled for 10h00 on 9 February 2005 at the offices of the EMDC – South Cape/Karoo, George. The matter had been set down previously on 30 November 2004 but was postponed due to the untimely death of the referring employee’s representative. It had now been set down for arbitration, but it was established that the process should in fact be that of conciliation/arbitration.

Present at this hearing for the employee party was Mr M J Buwa (USAPE/NAPTOSA Official as employee representative) and present for the employer party was Ms V Phillips (Labour Relations Practitioner as employer representative). The referring employee Ms L Mqede was not present.

The employee party’s representative advised that he had only been informed at 09h45 that day that Ms Mqede had been hospitalised in Knysna. I telephoned Ms H Hlatshwako of the ELRC and discussed the situation with her. It was agreed that the matter could be postponed at arbitration, should conciliation fail, if documentary proof of Ms Mqede’s hospitalisation could be provided by the employee party.

It was confirmed that the employer party’s representative did not have a mandate to settle the dispute at conciliation, hence an Outcome Form declaring the dispute as unresolved at 9 February 2005 was accordingly issued. The employee party’s representative was given the opportunity, with the consent of the Arbitrator and the employer party, from around 10h40 to 12h00 to produce documentary proof of Ms Mqede’s indisposition.

Mr Bawu reported at about 11h05 that he had contacted all the hospitals in Knysna and could not locate such a patient with any of them. He had also been unable to reach Ms Mqede’s daughter, who had initially reported that she had been hospitalised.

Mr Bawu consulted with his superiors and advised that he would not be able to continue with the arbitration in the absence of the referring employee. It was agreed that the matter would be dismissed at arbitration and that an award to this effect would be issued, with an application for rescission of the award to be lodged if the required proof was forthcoming at a later stage.

ISSUES TO BE DECIDED:

N/A

BACKGROUND TO THE ISSUE:

N/A

SURVEY OF EVIDENCE AND ARGUMENT:

N/A

ANALYSIS OF EVIDENCE AND ARGUMENT:

N/A

AWARD:

The following award is issued:

1. The matter is dismissed due to the non-attendance of the referring employee Ms L Mqede.
2. No order as to costs is made.

DATED AT DE RUST THIS 13TH DAY OF FEBRUARY 2005.

A C E REYNOLDS (MRS)
ARBITRATOR

EDUCATION LABOUR RELATIONS COUNCIL

ARBITRATION AWARD

CASE NUMBER PSES 341-04/05 WC
APPLICANT L MQEDE
RESPONDENT DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION WC
NATURE CONCILIATION
ARBITRATOR MRS A C E REYNOLDS
DATE OF ARBITRATION 9 FEBRUARY 2005
VENUE GEORGE

REPRESENTATION:

APPLICANT MR M J BUWA (USAPE/NAPTOSA)
RESPONDENT MS V PHILLIPS

AWARD:

1 The matter is dismissed due to the non-attendance of the referring employee Ms L Mqede.
2 No order as to costs is made.

DATE OF AWARD 13 FEBRUARY 2005