IDC riven by strife

Johannesburg - The Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) has had to answer to 25 cases of unfair dismissal and unfair treatment of employees in the past two financial years before the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) following escalating internal disciplinary processes.

"The IDC had 15 disciplinary hearings in its 2008/09 financial year and 10 in its 2009 financial year to date," spokesperson Kesebone Maema told Fin24.com. "We currently only have three cases at the CCMA."

Maema declined to provide details of the cost in fees of the inquiries to the IDC, or whether the parastatal had a successful track record in defending its position. "We do not comment on monies paid to service providers in public," she said.

The organisation employs about 630 people. The 28 cases that reached the CCMA were only part of the total 35 disciplinary cases the IDC has subjected its employees to in the period.

In calendar 2009 alone, the IDC prosecuted 20 people for various offences. Those were five cases more than in 2008, when nine employees were dismissed.

However, information at Fin24.com's disposal suggests the state-owned financier is not completely satisfied with those "achievements".

"Reluctance by management to deal with misconduct or poor work performance continues to be a challenge," Kwena Seema, head of employee relations, stated in a strategy document in November. He said that "reluctance or refusal" by managers to prosecute employees "is a recipe for them [managers] not [to] be trained and experienced".

After CEO Geoff Qhena assumed his position in 2005, he established Seema's department as a standalone sub-division under the human capital division in September 2006.

In 2005, the department had handled only five disciplinary cases. This jumped to nine in 2007, followed by 15 in 2008.

Seema further complains in the document that disciplinary processes "take too long" to finalise internally at the CCMA "at high legal fees".

That seems to tie in with former human capital executive Lese Matlhape's thinking. In August last year, he told 12 staff members he would "dismiss them on the spot" if they continued with their efforts to introduce a trade union at the IDC. He has since left the corporation.

Further,in the document, Seema lists as the department's "strength" its "speedy resolution to grievances and disciplinary matters".

Seema handles all the prosecutorial work by himself, as he calls his unit a "one-man show". This year alone, three employees have left the IDC following disciplinary processes.

The latest edition of Finweek contains more reports on the IDC.

- Fin24.com