Court orders SOS to compensate fired Serowe director
Mpho Mokwape | Friday August 24, 2018 11:59
Dimakatso Thabologo had sued the organisation for firing her for neglecting key responsibilities in running of the Village.
The court found that SOS had dismissed Thabologo unfairly and ordered that they pay her wages for the eight months she had worked for the organisation.
SOS Village consented to compensating her an amount of P112, 320 as, according to the management, retaining her as an employee would cause unrest for the whole organisation.
“By consent, the children’s village shall pay the applicant compensation for unfair dismissal, being eight months wages of which amount shall be paid direct to the applicant on or before October 20, 2018,’’ reads the order.According to court documents, Thabologo was employed as the Village director based in Serowe on July 2016, accountable for the overall development of the children within the SOS families and supports each SOS mother directly. She was also accountable for the effective management of the Village, including finances and human resources.
In defending Thabologo’s axing, the SOS said with their mandate clear and the employee having gone through orientation, she still failed to uphold it (the mandate), despite knowing well that the Village survives solely through private and public donations.
“The sponsorship reports and photos are collective of the village secretary, village educator and village social worker. The village director as the overall accounting officer still failed to communicate the challenge to the supervisor, National Programme Development Director.”
The management said failure to meet deadlines was to be communicated early so that support could be provided.
They accused Thabologo of not recognising the core mandate of the Village and breaching the organisation’s code of conduct.
SOS argued that the dismissal was appropriate because the employee lacked remorse and failed to align oneself with the Village’s mission. “This is viewed in a serious light and the continued employment of Ms Thabologo would cause unnecessary unrest in the Serowe SOS Village and the organisation as a whole,” read the court papers.
The management explained that after Thabologo’s employment was terminated on June 2017, she did not submit her termination clearance form to enable SOS to process her final payment that included her leave pay. But she had received her salary for June in full pending the appeal.