Leemisa Thuseho | Moorosi Tsiane
THE 2020 African Union Sports Council (AUSC) Region 5 games Local Organising Committee (LOC) secretariat has dragged Gender, Youth, Sport and Recreation minister Likeleli Tampane for terminating their contracts last week.
The 36 members of the secretariat were handed their contract termination letters last week.
The contracts were terminated soon after Tampane told the committee that she was cancelling the AUSC Games that were penned in for December next year.
Tampane cited the lack of funds and the prevailing Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic as the reasons for cancelling the games.
According to one of the contract termination letters seen by the Lesotho Times, the secretariat was fired in accordance with section 66 (1) and (C) of the Labour Code Order 1992.
“Following the cancellation of the AUSC Region 5 Youth games by the Minister of Gender, Youth, Sport and Recreation, please be informed that your employment contract is terminated with immediate effect,” the letter reads.
“This is (being) done in accordance with Section 66 (1) and (C) of the Labour Code Order 1992.
“You will be duly paid your pro-rata gratuity as required by the law. You will also be paid cash in lieu of notice for the month of September 2020.”
The contracts were effective from April 2018 and were expected to run until end of March next year.
One of the fired members of the secretariat said they want answers with regards to the reasons for which they were fired as the letters were “unclear”.
“We are just seeking clarity why our contracts were terminated because the letters are not clear. We were just told it was with immediate effect.
“So, we have already filed a case at the Labour Court and now our lawyers will be dealing with everything from now on. We won’t get into details because we don’t want to jeopardise our case,” said the member who preferred anonymity for fear of reprisal.
LOC chairperson Fusi Notoane confirmed that they were seeking recourse from the courts.
“After the minister told us about her decision to cancel the games, the LOC members’ contracts were terminated and they decided to approach the courts,” Notoane said.
He said they have already informed the Region 5 regional organising committee (ROC) about the developments and were now awaiting a response.
Although the minister has announced the cancelation of the games, this publication is informed that her decision is yet to be formally communicated to the AUSC Region 5.
A Region 5 ministers’ troika meeting on 31 July 2020 resolved to postpone the games to December 2021. The games had been initially been set to be held this December but the ministers resolved to move them because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The meeting was chaired by Tampane.
The fired members’ lawyer Motiea Teele could not be reached for comment yesterday as his phone was unavailable.
The games, which are meant to develop young talent in the 10 countries that are in the region including Lesotho. The other nine are Angola, Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, eSwatini, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
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