The Industrial Relations Court (IRC) in Blantyre yesterday started hearing a compensation claim for unfair dismissal by three former Press Corporation Limited (PCL) plc senior executives.
The three applicants are former PCL group chief executive officer George Partridge, former company secretary Bernard Ndau and former group financial controller Elizabeth Mafeni.
Private practice lawyer John Suzi Banda, who is representing the applicants, said in an interview after court proceedings yesterday that his clients are claiming that their contracts at PCL were unlawfully terminated two years ago.
“They want to be compensated for the unlawfulness or unfairness of the decision to terminate their contracts,” he said.
During the court session yesterday, Ndau, a lawyer by profession, provided his evidence and counsel for PCL Patrick Mpaka cross-examined him.
Hearing of the matter will continue this morning when Suzi Banda is expected to re-examine Ndau’s evidence before the other two applicants start tendering their evidence.
Partridge, Mafeni and Ndau were dismissed from PCL on January 31 2022 following what the conglomerate’s board called an on-going functional review exercise which aimed at introducing radical changes, including removal of some positions at its corporate office.
However, the trio said in their court submissions that they were not consulted during the functional review despite the arrangement that the consultant was supposed to engage all employees.
PCL is listed on the Malawi Stock Exchange and has interests in banking, telecommunications, energy, real estate and hospitality.
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