BOPEU asks for Sedimo P 3million lawsuit absolution
Mpho Mokwape | Monday May 30, 2022 06:00
“Failure to prove the existence of a valid, lawful and enforceable contract of employment is fatal to the reliefs sought by Sedimo,” said the union. The union, in its responding papers, explained that the ex SG did not lead any iota of evidence that suggested that a valid, lawful and enforceable contract exists as a matter of fact and law. BOPEU also submitted that in the event the applicant failed to make out a case on the existence of a contract of employment then an absolution from the instance was inevitable in the circumstance.
Still on the need for absolution from the lawsuit, the union said Sedimo has made representations to the Court of Appeal (CoA) by way of affidavit about a High Court judgement that invalidated all resolutions of the national executive committee (NEC) from the April 27, 2019 and declared them null and void. “As such, on the strength of the applicant’s own representations, he must be prevented to duck and dive and change positions before another court. As a principle of estoppel bars the applicant from making different averments from the ones he made before the Court of Appeal on the validity of his contract of employment,” said BOPEU. BOPEU argued that in Sedimo’s own affidavit, he said that all resolutions of the NEC from April 27, 2019 were null and void and those resolutions included the resolution of employment offer with the union and that at the time of filing his statement of case with the Industrial Court, he was well aware of his averment before the CoA and the judgments pronounced by the various courts.
The union pointed out that nonetheless he chose to play ostrich and bury his head in the sand and he may not like or agree with this judgement, but what he cannot do was to wish them away. “Being aware of the various judgements traversed during cross examination, and the implications of Justice Mercy Garekwe’s judgement, the applicant cannot reasonably contend that he has a valid, lawful and enforceable contract of employment with us,” said the union. The union went further to say it wants absolution with costs since it believes the applicant has no case at all. BOPEU said on the face of the various clear judgements known to Sedimo, his litigation was plainly and obviously untenable, could not succeed and bound to fail and also that the proceedings were a sham only intended to harass the union and put it out of pocket with an unmeritorious litigation. Furthermore the union said it was a classical and clear case of a vexatious and frivolous litigation that it was also an abuse of court process. The Court of Appeal has pronounced itself on the fate of the applicant and he nonetheless approaches a lower court seeking redress on the basis of a contract that has been nullified by judicial pronouncement.
This is a case of clear abuse of court process that must be censored by an appropriate order of costs,” Meanwhile the parties have been at each other’s throats after Sedimo approached the court seeking the following remedy in sums. Payment of the amount of P3,564 425.76 and he is seeking the relief on the basis of what he characterised as a lawful and valid contract of employment with BOPEU. Sedimo lost his seat as the SG following the legal battle between him, BOPEU President Masego Mogwera and SG Topias Marenga. He had wanted to be recognised as the union’s legitimate SG. However, BOPEU on the other hand contended that Sedimo had never had a lawful and valid contract of employment with them. The union submitted that Sedimo’s evidence and admissions under cross examination pointed out that he did not place before court a prima facie case against BOPEU for the reliefs he was seeking.