The meeting was hosted by South Africa and attended by officials responsible for dispute prevention and resolution from ten SADC Member States, namely: Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.

The Southern Africa Trade Union Coordination Council and SADC Private Sector Forum also attended the meeting.

The ILO delegation to the meeting  was led by Mr. Joni Musabayana, Director ILO Pretoria office, included experts from the ILO Headquarters in Geneva, ILO Decent Work Team Pretoria Office, and the ILO Country office in Harare.

Objectives
The meeting was held as a follow-up to the decision of SADC Ministers and Social Partners to establish a SADC Forum on dispute prevention and resolution. The objectives of the meeting were:

(i) to provide a platform for dispute resolution bodies to share experiences and exchange information on challenges and approaches in dispute prevention and resolution;

(ii) to agree on the rules on the operation of the SADC Forum on Dispute Prevention and Resolution, including the Forum’s operational sustainability for the future; and

(iii) to discuss and agree on future areas of cooperation between the agencies / bodies


Member States through country presentations and discussions, shared experiences and information pertaining to institutional structures, mechanisms, processes, procedures, and challenges being faced in the process of dispensing justice in the labour market through dispute prevention and resolution

Establishment of the SADC Forum on Dispute Prevention and Resolution

The meeting resolved that the role of the SADC Forum on Dispute Prevention and Resolution will be to promote harmonized approaches to dispute prevention and resolution. The functions of the Forum will include to:
a) develop and adopt common principles on labour dispute resolution and have common systems in place to assist each other in assessing the performance of national systems of labour dispute resolution within SADC;
b) develop exchanges between the bodies / agencies on their experiences in dispute resolution to promote consistency of standards and efficiency of service delivery throughout SADC;
c) promote collaboration between the bodies / agencies in the setting up of training programmes for conciliators and arbitrators;
d) develop an efficient system of rapid information exchange between the bodies / agencies on problems encountered in dispute resolution and share strategies;
e) establish active cooperation between the bodies / agencies to promote dispute resolution and cooperate in resolving cross-border problems regarding dispute resolution; and
f) regularly study possible impact of other SADC policies on dispute resolution and harmonious labour relations.
The Meeting further agreed as follows:
a) that the Forum will operate within the SADC ELS existing structure;
b) that the Forum should meet once a year and that, in the interim while the Forum is being established, the ILO be requested to consider supporting activities towards fully establishing the Forum ;
c) that the Secretariat of the Forum should rest with the Member State chairing SADC supported by the SADC Secretariat.
The meeting further recommended that the Forum should set up its own rules of procedure. In this respect, the ILO offered to provide some information to assist with the drafting of rules of procedure of similar fora.
Immediate Follow up Actions
The meeting agreed on the following actions to be taken as next steps:
(i) finalise the record of the meeting and send to participants during the week beginning 24 July 2017;
(ii) Member States to align their respective presentations to the guidelines provided and re-submit them to the SADC Secretariat by 28th July 2017;
(iii) Preparation of draft rules of procedure for the Forum to be finalized and distributed to Member States by September 2017 in readiness for the October 2017 ELS Technical Joint Tripartite Sub-committees meeting.