‘JAIL THAT CEO’

MBABANE – Unionised employees of SMVAF want the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the parastatal, Helmon Vilakati to be jailed for 30 days for contempt of court.

This comes after the Sincephetelo Motor Vehicle Accident Fund (SMVAF) failed to pay them their salaries in terms of a memorandum of agreement that was signed by the parties.

The salary review dates back from April 1, 2012.
SMVAF is reported to have failed to pay the employees’ salaries in terms of the memorandum of agreement despite that there was a court order to that effect.
Last year, the Industrial Court ordered the fund to review the salaries of its employees using the method contained in the Memorandum of Agreement signed by the parties. 

The parastatal was further ordered to comply with the terms of the Memorandum of Agreement within 30 days of the issuance of the judgment, which was November 2018.

Instituted

Through their union, SUFIAW, the employees have since instituted contempt proceedings against Vilakati.
They are further seeking an order directing the deputy sheriff of the Hhohho Region to arrest the CEO whenever he could be located, and submit him to goal at Sidvwashini Correctional facility.

The aggrieved workers also want the court to direct members of the Royal Eswatini Police to assist in the execution of the order in the event it was granted by the court.

In his founding affidavit, SUFIAW Secretary General Jabu Shiba, stated that the Industrial Court pursuant to the court order which was proceeded to be served at the premises of SMAVF’s lawyers and they allegedly received it on November 15, 2018.
According to Shiba, on or about December 2018, she wrote to SMVAF’s and its CEO advising them to comply with the provisions of the court order but they did not respond.

“Further, sometime on or about January 9, 2019, I wrote and sent an email to the respondents (SMVAF and its CEO), making a follow up on them to comply with the provisions of the court order. They also failed to comply,” submitted Shiba.

The secretary general asserted that she then advised their (workers) lawyer, Happy Mkhabela that SMAVF had failed and/or neglected to comply with the provisions of the court order. She said their lawyer wrote a correspondence to SMAVF demanding compliance with the court order.

Shiba said SMAVF replied in this instance through its lawyers, where they requested to be given 10 days to enable them to advise the parastatal accordingly.
“However, the period of time which the respondents requested to be furnished with elapsed and that was brought to the respondents’ lawyer’s ‘attention and there was no response,” submitted Shiba.

Shiba averred that the inescapable conclusion to be drawn from the CEO’s conduct was that he had an intention of bringing the administration of justice into disrepute by defying the court order. She argued that the respondents’ conduct under the circumstances was contemptuous to the court. Shiba submitted that the court was entitled to call upon the CEO and SMAVF to show cause why they should not be held to be in contempt and punished accordingly.

Shiba informed the court that what was worrying was that the conduct of the respondents had the effect of infringement of the integrity of the Industrial Court.
She further argued that the union was entitled and duty-bound to insist on strict compliance with the terms of the court judgment as the rights of the employees were unlawfully prejudiced by the CEO and the parastatal.

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