The Gaborone District Labour Officer, Thapelo Terence Koketso has ruled that Radibe should be paid 20 days leave accrued between January and June 2007. He said the former teacher was given three months notice after being forced into early retirement. As a result, he was not supposed to take leave during the period as he would not have served the three months notice. Koketso explained that had Radibe taken the leave, his employer would have denied him the advantage of getting leave pay in terms of the Section 98) 6(a) of Employment Act read with Clause 2.5 of the directive issued in November 2001. The directive states that non-contract teachers shall during their last year of service be paid their leave entitlement carried during the year.
The mediator advised that this therefore entitles Radibe, who was in his last year of service, to be paid any leave not taken at the time of termination of the contract. He said according to the submission of the respondent, who was the director of the Teaching Service Management (TSM) Opelo Makhandlela, there should always be someone at school during the vacation but it should not always be the school head. He said the question that arises is whether Radibe appointed anyone to act during his April vacation. "According to the records, has the ministry paid anyone acting allowance during that period?" Koketso asked.
