IN GOOD FAITH
CARMEL RICKARD: Keeping a cool head
Outsiders might see this as a slightly crazy impasse between the labour department and Absa
Everyone who uses a computer will know the feeling: you press the button to "send" a completed online form, but you aren’t certain it has actually "gone". Sometimes it doesn’t matter. Other times it is crucial. Like the night of January 15 2017, when Denise Mantle, top Absa human resources manager, submitted a completed form to the department of labour with the bank’s employment equity information. Later, when the two sides could not agree on whether the report was in fact "submitted", Absa headed to the labour court with its jurisdiction over disputes on interpreting the application of the Employment Equity Act.That court has now given its decision about what outsiders might see as the slightly crazy impasse between the labour department and Absa. An early sign of this oddity came via a comment by the judge, Edwin Tlhotlhalemaje. The department "(does) not appear to vehemently oppose" Absa’s application, he said. The department’s officials were "not litigants in the ordinary sense"...
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