SSC ordered to give Mulder his job back

THE Windhoek District Labour Court on Friday ordered the Social Security Commission to reinstate a former senior employee, Gideon Mulder, in the post from which the SSC dismissed him in May last year.

The victory that Mulder won in court on Friday does not appear to spell the end of his legal battle against the SSC, though. Indications from the SSC last week already were that if a judgement was to be granted against it, the parastatal would apply for the District Labour Court’s judgement to be rescinded – a step that would place Mulder and the SSC back on the same collision course that they had been on at the beginning of last week.The reinstatement order that District Labour Court chairperson Clement Daniels granted in Mulder’s favour came in the form of a default judgement that was given against the SSC.The judgement was granted by default because no representative of the SSC was present at the court for the scheduled start of Mulder’s case on Tuesday.The SSC’s legal representative, Jefta Tjitemisa, had sent a letter to the court to inform it that he had been booked off by his doctor until the end of last week.Still, in the absence of a proper application for a postponement of the case, Magistrate Daniels permitted Mulder and his lawyer, Coline Bazuin, to proceed with a hearing of Mulder’s claim against the SSC under a District Labour Court rule allowing an application for a default judgement to be granted against a party who is absent from a hearing of a case in that court.In the ruling handed down on Friday, Magistrate Daniels ordered the SSC to reinstate Mulder, who had been dismissed as the SSC’s Manager: Corporate Finance, on May 20 last year, on or before January 8.Magistrate Daniels also ordered the SSC to compensate Mulder for the income he had lost between the date of his dismissal and the date of his reinstatement – but minus the income he has in the meantime received from the job at Trustco Group International that he has since taken up.Magistrate Daniels noted that according to the version that Mulder placed before the court when he testified on Tuesday, the SSC failed to comply with the Labour Act when it dismissed Mulder.As a result, the Magistrate stated, the court found that there was no valid and fair reason for Mulder’s dismissal, and the court set aside the findings of a disciplinary hearing that resulted in Mulder being fired from his job.Mulder complained that he was not only wrongly but also unfairly accused and treated in the disciplinary hearing.He claimed that amongst other things, he was denied legal representation, he was refused a postponement to give him a chance to get a preferred trade union representative to assist him during the hearing, he was not provided with documentation that he felt he needed to prepare adequately for the hearing, and at some stage he was even sent out of the hearing while a witness that he had called was giving evidence.He was further denied the right to an internal appeal against the disciplinary panel’s decision, he claimed.At his disciplinary hearing, Mulder faced four charges of gross negligence and gross insubordination, which were all related to the role that he was alleged to have played with various investment moves that were made by the SSC in late 2004 and early 2005.Three of the charges against him dealt with decisions by the SSC to reduce the amount of money that it had invested with the Agricultural Bank of Namibia, Mulder related during Tuesday’s hearing of his case.When that step was decided on, the SSC had invested some N$150 million with Agribank, which was considered to be a risky situation because the bank was struggling financially and had already previously defaulted with repaying part of the money that the SSC had invested with it, Mulder told the court.Eventually, though, after it had been decided to move the SSC’s money away from the bank, most of it was again invested with Agribank – and the SSC then tried to pin the blame for this on him, while he was in fact not responsible for this move, Mulder claimed.Mulder also told the court that the SSC likewise tried to pin the blame on him for the much-publicised, ill-fated investment of N$30 million with an unproven but politically well-connected asset management company, Avid Investment Corporation, early last year.In fact, he told the court, he only investigated that investment possibility and made recommendations on it, but the actual decision to invest N$30 million through Avid was taken by his superiors at the parastatal, the then Chief Executive Officer, Tuli Hiveluah, and then General Manager: Finance and Administration, Avril Green.Both Hiveluah and Green subsequently also faced disciplinary charges over their role in that investment.Hiveluah resigned from his post before his disciplinary hearing could start, and Green was dismissed after his disciplinary hearing earlier this year.He is still challenging his dismissal.Indications from the SSC last week already were that if a judgement was to be granted against it, the parastatal would apply for the District Labour Court’s judgement to be rescinded – a step that would place Mulder and the SSC back on the same collision course that they had been on at the beginning of last week.The reinstatement order that District Labour Court chairperson Clement Daniels granted in Mulder’s favour came in the form of a default judgement that was given against the SSC.The judgement was granted by default because no representative of the SSC was present at the court for the scheduled start of Mulder’s case on Tuesday.The SSC’s legal representative, Jefta Tjitemisa, had sent a letter to the court to inform it that he had been booked off by his doctor until the end of last week.Still, in the absence of a proper application for a postponement of the case, Magistrate Daniels permitted Mulder and his lawyer, Coline Bazuin, to proceed with a hearing of Mulder’s claim against the SSC under a District Labour Court rule allowing an application for a default judgement to be granted against a party who is absent from a hearing of a case in that court.In the ruling handed down on Friday, Magistrate Daniels ordered the SSC to reinstate Mulder, who had been dismissed as the SSC’s Manager: Corporate Finance, on May 20 last year, on or before January 8.Magistrate Daniels also ordered the SSC to compensate Mulder for the income he had lost between the date of his dismissal and the date of his reinstatement – but minus the income he has in the meantime received from the job at Trustco Group International that he has since taken up.Magistrate Daniels noted that according to the version that Mulder placed before the court when he testified on Tuesday, the SSC failed to comply with the Labour Act when it dismissed Mulder.As a result, the Magistrate stated, the court found that there was no valid and fair reason for Mulder’s dismissal, and the court set aside the findings of a disciplinary hearing that resulted in Mulder being fired from his job.Mulder complained that he was not only wrongly but also unfairly accused and treated in the disciplinary hearing.He claimed that amongst other things, he was denied legal representation, he was refused a postponement to give him a chance to get a preferred trade union representative to assist him during the hearing, he was not provided with documentation that he felt he needed to prepare adequately for the hearing, and at some stage he was even sent out of the hearing while a witness that he had called was giving evidence.He was further denied the right to an internal appeal against the disciplinary panel’s decision, he claimed.At his disciplinary hearing, Mulder faced four charges of gross negligence and gross insubordination, which were all related to the role that he was alleged to have played with various investment moves that were made by the SSC in late 2004 and early 2005.Three of the charges against him dealt with decisions by the SSC to reduce the amount of money that it had invested with the Agricultural Bank of Namibia, Mulder related during Tuesday’s hearing of his case.When that step was decided
on, the SSC had invested some N$150 million with Agribank, which was considered to be a risky situation because the bank was struggling financially and had already previously defaulted with repaying part of the money that the SSC had invested with it, Mulder told the court.Eventually, though, after it had been decided to move the SSC’s money away from the bank, most of it was again invested with Agribank – and the SSC then tried to pin the blame for this on him, while he was in fact not responsible for this move, Mulder claimed.Mulder also told the court that the SSC likewise tried to pin the blame on him for the much-publicised, ill-fated investment of N$30 million with an unproven but politically well-connected asset management company, Avid Investment Corporation, early last year.In fact, he told the court, he only investigated that investment possibility and made recommendations on it, but the actual decision to invest N$30 million through Avid was taken by his superiors at the parastatal, the then Chief Executive Officer, Tuli Hiveluah, and then General Manager: Finance and Administration, Avril Green.Both Hiveluah and Green subsequently also faced disciplinary charges over their role in that investment.Hiveluah resigned from his post before his disciplinary hearing could start, and Green was dismissed after his disciplinary hearing earlier this year.He is still challenging his dismissal.