Fired PS’ take battle to court

MASERU – HIGH Court judge, Justice ’Maliepollo Makhetha, is today expected to hear a case filed by nine Principal Secretaries who were fired by the government this week.

The PS’ rushed to the High Court yesterday to halt their expulsion after they were booted out on Tuesday.

They rushed to the High Court seeking to block the government from firing them since negotiations for their exit were still going on.

However, the government then announced that it was terminating their contracts with immediate effect.

Labour Minister Richards Ramoeletsi announced on radio that the government had decided to terminate the employment contracts of 25 principal secretaries despite their resistance.

He said the government will soon publish vacancies in the offices of all principal secretaries, not only the nine principal secretaries’ positions.

“Every Mosotho including the current principal secretaries are free to apply,” Ramoeletsi said.

The minister said the current government has reduced ministers from 27 to 14 and “this decision was done to strengthen service delivery in the country and to save the government funds to create jobs”.

He said the second step will be to reduce the number of principal secretaries from 27 to 14.

“The government found 22 principal secretaries in office after five resigned before the general elections,” he said.

He added that currently the government has 25 principal secretaries after some vacancies were filled.

He said the government has been in talks with the principal secretaries to discuss the best ways to end their contracts “in a transparent way that aligns with international standards”.

He said negotiations with the PS’ began on January 26, 2023 and ended last Friday without an agreement.

Ramoeletsi said during the negotiations it became clear that the government had to reduce the number of PS’ from 25 to 14.

“The government tabled different ways to succeed in reducing the number.”

He said the methods included contesting for the job, changing jobs and maintaining the same salary, and taking the worker for retirement “or the principal secretaries should be re-interviewed for the jobs”.

Ramoeletsi said they will pay the principal secretaries a three months’ salary for notice and also pay them 25 percent of their contract salary that was still outstanding.

He said the principal secretaries pleaded with him to get all their outstanding salaries on their contracts including all their benefits like electricity, water, phone allowances, accommodation and vehicles.

“But what they want is not supported by the labour law, (and) our negotiations then failed,” he said.

He said after they failed to agree with the principal secretaries the government decided to part ways with them.

“The government is doing it under Section 65 of the Labour Code,” he said.

He advised those who did not take their leave days to do so.

The nine principal secretaries who took the matter to court are Thabo Motoko, Tlhopheho Sefali, Kamoho Matlama, Dira Khama, Bereng Makotoko, Retšelisitsoe Mohale, Lira Moeti, ’Mamonyane Bohloko and ’Masekhobe Moholobela while the respondents are the Prime Minister and the Attorney General.

They argue that the government is terminating their contracts prematurely and that “the subsequent decision of the prime minister to pay us cash in lieu of notice equivalent to three months of notice is a serious matter that must be addressed urgently”.

They also said the government is moving away from the contracts signed with the previous administration “in a manner that constitutes an anticipatory breach, giving rise on the part of the applicants to an immediate entitlement to exercise their remedies in law”.

They said they are unhappy that they have been directed to proceed to take their remaining leave days starting from Monday this week based on speculation that they have been booted out of their public service.

“The applicants maintain that the practical consequences of forced taking of leave days may turn out to be invalid,” the court papers read.

Nkheli Liphoto