African Labour Law Society 4Th Conference
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4th AFRICAN LABOUR LAW SOCIETY HYBRID CONFERENCE 3rdAFRICAN REGIONAL CONGRESS OF THE ISLSSL VILLA ROSA KEMPINSKI CONFERENCE CENTRE, NAIROBI, KENYA 21-22 OCTOBER 2021 SPEAKERS PRÉCIS AND BIOGRAPHIES THURSDAY, 21st OCTOBER 2021 08h30 08h35 WELCOME DOCTOR BIO PAMHIDZAI BAMU Pamhidzai was born and raised in Harare, Zimbabwe. She holds an LLB, President of the ALLS LLM (Labour Law) and a PhD (Labour Law) from the University of Cape Town. She completed a post-doctoral fellowship at Stellenbosch University in 2013. She has worked as a researcher in the Institute of Development and Labour Law at the University of Cape Town, and the Social Law Project at the University of the Western Cape, and has undertaken and published research on various labour issues in South Africa and Southern Africa. She has worked on several consultancies for the ILO and Southern African Development Community (Secretariat) on various issues, including labour migration, domestic work, non-standard employment and the employment contract. She is currently the Law Programme Coordinator for Africa at Women in Informal Employment Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO) During her time at WIEGO, she has worked with the International Domestic Workers’ Federation (IDWF) to develop the Toolkit on Domestic Workers and C189, which aims to promote the realization of C189 on the ground. Pamhi is also a project to analyse the COVID-19 laws and their impacts on informal workers in Africa, Asia and Latin America. She has a strong interest in worker education to strengthen workers’ capacity to know and use the law and to demand their legal recognition and protection as workers. She currently lives in Washington, D.C. 08h35 09h15 OFFICIAL OPENING CABINET SECRETARY BIO SECRETARY TBC Ministry of Labour and Social Protection (TBC) BIO JUDGE TBC TBC Employment and Labour Relations Court (TBC) 08h35 09h15 KEYNOTE ADDRESS WELLINGTON BIO CHIBEBE TBC Director ILO Kenya 10h00 10h30 TEA PLENARY 1 10h30 11h15 TOPIC The protocol on free movement of labour under the Africa Free Continental Trade Agreement NJERI Trading within the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) began on WAGACHA 1 January 2020, marking a significant milestone for intra-African trade. The AFCFTA seeks to enhance free movement of capital and labour so as to Partner break the barriers of trade in goods and services. What opportunities and Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr challenges does this present for labour in the African continent. What role Kenya do employers and labour law practitioners have to position the continent for this next phase of growth. My presentation shall stimulate discussion on these pertinent questions. BIO Njeri Wagacha is a Partner in our Corporate & Commercial practice and specialises in Mergers Acquisitions, Private Equity, Competition Law, Employment Law, Technology, Media & Telecommunications. Njeri runs the podcast NjeriTalks Law. PLENARY 2 11h15 12h00 TOPIC Agile working and the challenges it presents for foreign employers whose employees choose to work remotely from Kenya TERRY The steadfast adoption of agile working globally cannot be ignored. In MWANGO Kenya, this was accelerated by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic as many organisations sort various ways to help curb the spread of the virus. Partner While the country remains positive of a ‘post-covid’ near future, some of Head of Litigation the ‘new norm’ adjustments such as agile working are expected to remain. and Dispute Resolution For foreign employers, having a team working from Kenya raises come Bowmans complexities such as; setting up subsidiaries, seeking work permits from Kenya the immigration department (a tedious process involving filling out various forms, submission to immigration, registering as an Alien). In addition, there is also the tax obligation that the employers would have to bare. BIO Terry Mwango is a Partner, Head of Litigation and Dispute Resolution at Bowman’s Kenya. She specialises in commercial litigation and alternative dispute resolution and represents a diverse portfolio of local and international corporate clients. She has tremendous experience advising and acting for corporate clients in commercial disputes involving a range of specialist practice areas. Her areas of experience are employment, (she has acted for and facilitated out of court settlements in labour disputes and employee claims) tax, banking and finance (insolvency and receivership), intellectual property, judicial review, administrative and constitutional law, media and competition, building and construction. Other than the practice of law, Terry is passionate about facilitating the empowerment and representation of vulnerable persons. In this regard, she is the Chair of the Kenyan Board of Justice Defenders and a member of the Africa Sub-Committee of the Equal Representation in Arbitration. Terry has an LLB and BA (Psych.) from the University of Notre Dame; a Graduate Diploma in Law from the College of Law, Sydney; and a Postgraduate Diploma from the Kenya School of Law. She is qualified to practice as a Solicitor in Australia (NSW) and an Advocate in Kenya. PLENARY 3 12h00 12h45 TOPIC Reflections on South African Case Law Pertaining to Covid-19 DR WILLIAM The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent disaster MOKOFE management measures to contain it were sudden and had a significant impact on public and private life. The repercussions of the lock-down Senior Lecturer of Law are visible in amongst others an economic downturn, social challenges, Pearson Institute of Higher Education changed working routines, reduced transport, health, employment South Africa legislation and the administering of vaccines. This has resulted in a number of court decisions and arbitration awards in South Africa. The promulgation of the South African Disaster Management Act No. 57 of 2002 and the National Disaster Management Policy Framework of 2005 placed South Africa at the global vanguard by integrating disaster risk reduction into all spheres of government through a decentralised approach. This contribution traverses these decisions and identifies principles that may also be applicable to other African jurisdictions. BIO Dr William Manga Mokofe (LL B (Fort Hare), LL M (South Africa), LL D (South Africa)) is a Senior Lecturer of Law at the Pearson Institute of Higher Education, South Africa. He is an advocate of the High Court of South Africa. PLENARY 3 - continued 12h00 12h45 TOPIC Reflections on South African Case Law Pertaining to Covid-19 PROFESSOR BIO STEFAN VAN ECK Professor Stefan van Eck holds the degrees BLC, LLB and LLD (Pret). The University of Pretoria title of his LLD thesis is “Evaluering van die Nywerheidshofstelsel in die Suid- South Africa Afrikaanse Arbeidsreg” (Evaluation of the Industrial Court System in the South African Labour Law). He was Head: Department of Mercantile Law between 1 October 2007 and 31 December 2016. He was admitted as an attorney of the High Court (Transvaal Provincial Division) in 1997 and holds a C1 ranking from the National Research Foundation. He is Deputy President of the International Society of Labour and Social Security Law (ISLSSL Africa region) and serves on the Management Committee of the African Labour Law Society (ALLS). 12h45 13h15 AGM 13h15 14h00 LUNCH BREAKAWAY WORKSHOPS PARALLEL SESSION 1 14h00 14h45 TOPIC Square Solutions to Circle Problems CINDY Burnout, non-adherence and absenteeism are just a few of the symptoms SQUAIR of the continuous uncertainty COVID-19 has caused. Although there are many “SQUARE” measures (laws and processes) to manage these Director symptoms, we need to pause and reflect on the fact that we are dealing Circle & Square with a “CIRCLE” crisis. South Africa Employees’ are facing a mental pandemic, due to the uncertainty and lack of control. The constant heightened emotion could contribute to sub- standard performance. Although Schedule 8 of the LRA provides guidelines in terms of managing incapacity and poor performance, as leaders we need to consider supporting employees using circle “CIRCLE” solutions to manage their heightened emotion in order to regain their normality and optimal performance. BIO With her honours in Industrial Psychology, Brain-based coaching certification and a wealth of experience in various fields she has applied her trade in, including HR, the finance industry and teaching, Cindy brings profound psychological insights to the room. With her fun, energetic and caring manner Cindy thrives on building meaningful relationships with all those that she engages with and has wide experience facilitating teams across levels in organisations working as a one to one performance coach and facilitator of small groups to webinars with hundreds of delegates, bringing personal connect and engagement in all forums. PARALLEL SESSION 1 14h00 14h45 TOPIC App-bans over labour concerns - the perilous relationship between labour law and international investment law LOUIS International investment law has been facing a growing legitimacy crisis KOEN over its perceived ability to result in a regulatory chill. The relation between investment law and platforms such as Uber was also starkly demonstrated University of Johannesburg when Uber sent Colombia a notice of its intention to submit a dispute to South Africa investment arbitration over a ban on Uber in that country. There has been a growing number of countries seeking to ban Uber and other platforms over labour concerns. This contribution will explore the interactions between labour and investment law and the legality