Ex-MAP teacher loses unfair dismissal case
Mpho Mokwape | Wednesday March 13, 2024 08:19
The former teacher, 41, alleged that despite performing well since 2007, he was informed eight months before his contract expired that it wouldn't be renewed.
However, the Industrial Court ruled that Tshwene failed to make a case against the private school. Judge Gaedupe Makgato stated that Tshwene's case lacks merit, especially considering he wasn't terminated. Rather his contract had ended and was not renewed. "Parting ways was a mutual agreement and I do not see how it was an unfair dismissal.
"You were informed about the ending of the contract and that it would not be renewed, you did not contest it then," the judge said. He emphasised that Tshwene did not contest the contract's ending when informed and only raised concerns after it finished, making it not a case of unfair dismissal.
Regarding the unilateral variation of his contract, Makgato highlighted that Tshwene knew about it, and received the varied salary without complaint. "You received the varied salary as long as your contract was still in place, not showing any disagreement. It has been three years now and it's only now that you contest it," remarked the judge. Judge Makgato stressed that Tshwene should have taken action the minute he knew about the contract variation since he wasn't happy with it, not after a long time. The judge concluded the case, stating it lacked merit to build a strong argument against the school accused of victimising its staff and subjecting them to racist actions. The disputed contract before the court spanned from January 2020 to December 2022, agreed upon by the parties around November 11, 2019, and January 2020, respectively.
As per Tshwene's documents, after the consensus on the contract, a key term was a basic monthly salary of P29,630. However, on the January 2020 payday, about two months after the contract, he discovered he was paid only P21,166, P8,464 less than the agreed amount. Upon realising the salary shortfall, Tshwene approached the principal’s secretary but received no explanation for the discrepancy.
Challenging the variation, he sought the remaining agreed-upon difference from the contract.
On unfair dismissal, Tshwene claimed victimisation during the contract, experiencing racial and other forms of discrimination and unfair labour practices at MAP. He raised concerns with the management, suspecting victimisation for speaking out against racism at the school. "There is a lot of racism at that school.
Batswana teachers are mistreated and always fear to speak out. They mostly employ only whites and foreigners. Batswana teachers once wrote a letter of complaint to the management with those who were scared to lose jobs abstaining," Tshwene stated. MAP denied the allegations and sought absolution from the case.