FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH COURT ORDER HAUNTS GOVT

MBABANE – “Why should the court entertain you when you fail to comply with its orders?”

This question was asked by Industrial Court Judge Nkosinathi Nkonyane yesterday during the matter in which government has appealed the decision of the court, ordering the State to reinstate school heads of department on the Grade E issue.

The order being appealed also interdicts government from continuing to be in breach and declaring Circular No.1 2016 illegal and unlawful and having no force.

However, ever since the court made its ruling on February 24, 2017, the HODs are yet to be paid on the new scale.
When the matter resumed yesterday, the judge wanted to find out why government should be entertained on their application for stay of execution and appeal when it was in contempt of the February 24 order.

The appeal was filed after March 21, the date on which teachers’ salaries were paid for the second time after the order had been issued.
Judge Nkonyane said government should have filed its appeal much earlier, and in the meantime the HODs should have been paid as per the judgment. “If you are in contempt, why should the court grant you an audience; a court whose judgments you don’t adhere to. Why didn’t you appeal earlier?

What did you do after the judgment was delivered?” asked the court.
Crown Counsel Nhlanhla Dlamini from the Attorney General’s chamber, said government was not in wilful contempt of court and that there were a number of avenues to go through before the payments could be effected.

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