South Africa’s Labour Czar THE principal author of South Africa’s Labour Relations Act, Michael Halton Cheadle is more than simply a professor at law. Cheadle, who began his career defending workers from the machinations of the apartheid system, metastasized from being a practitioner of labour law to a global economic player and international labour broker, with a directorship and shareholding in a human resources empire and financial services firm that literally sold workers rights down the river. From a notable career which began with support for workers unions such as the African Textile Workers Industrial Union (A-TWIU) and National Union of Textile Workers (NUTW) where he held an executive position, to labour fund management, and the establishment of the General Factory Workers Benefit Fund (GFWBF), Cheadle effectively ended up redefining human labour in purely monetary terms, first as a rands and cents equation, then as a simple cost to company, as labour was finally repackaged as a new form of capital.
Between 1992 and 1994 Cheadle was an “Independent Legal Expert with National Manpower Communications” positioning himself at the centre of political intrigue with his appointment to “various commissions of enquiry and government delegations such as the ad hoc committee on the Bill of Rights”. Because of his close ties to the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party, Cheadle, who signs his legal opinions H Cheadle, was appointed as the special advisor to the Minister of Labour and soon found himself the “principal architect of the 1995 Labour Relations Act” according to an online biography. In March 1999 Cheadle was involved in establishing the Resolve Group, which until 2012 provided ”a suite of human resources and labour relations services.” In the process he created a total solution in workforce management. The Resolve Group included Resolve Workplace Solutions, Resolve Encounter Consulting, Tokiso Dispute Management, Converse Consulting, Mediaworks, Resolve Career Transition, CCI Growthcon and Resolution Logic, all involved in the employment, placement and management of workers and professionals. Services offered by the Resolve group included: Labour performance management, training programmes and services, private dispute resolution, recruitment and outsourcing, adult education and training, career transition and outplacement, psychometric testing and operational performance improvement. The CCI Growthcon website proudly proclaims, without a hint of irony: “By performance improvement we mean revenue growth, service delivery, cost reduction/ deferral and/or capital reduction/deferral.” Resolution Logic on the other hand, perversely offers its clients “dynamic financial modelling and people strategies for your employee segmentation, human capital and workforce planning needs.” Directors of the company included ANC heavyweight Max Sisulu, the current speaker of the House of Assembly, who is nearing retirement, and CEO David Storey, a man with strong ties to the Discovery Group and other financial services companies. Cheadle remained an executive director at the company alongside David Storey and juggled his time spent seeing to the affairs at Resolve with a professorship and lecturing position at the ivy league University of Cape
Town. Cheadle was thus a Professor of one in which he declaims on such pressing Labour Law at the University of Cape Town’s and urgent topics as the need to change Law Faculty at the same time that he was a labour legislation, with the uncanny ability to major shareholder in a number of business also broker the negotiation and sale of the ventures and financial operations including surplus output of labour and capital by law firm Cheadle Haysom and the Resolve government and corporate enterprise, both Group. locally and internationally. In 2012 the Resolve Group appears to have Is it any surprise that following the events of been bought out by Ernst & Young Advisory Marikana, Cheadle also represents the Financial Services. A press release issued by interests of the state union federation the company states: “We are pleased to COSATU as well as the World Economic announce that Ernst & Young has acquired Forum? the consulting interests of The Resolve Cheadle’s position at the World Economic Group, a Johannesburg-based Human and the International Labour Capital advisory firm.” It is unclear as to the Forum Organisation, including one committee resulting share structure, but the move came tasked with making recommendations on the amidst controversy. application of international conventions has The shift followed extensive criticism of seriously compromised his ability to serve Cheadle because of his failure to disclose either the Labour Court of South Africa or information pertinent to the proceedings in a the Eastern Cape Division of the High Court. labour matter under his direct supervision, in The business of drafting legislation should which both his firms held a material interest not be confused with the interpretation of in the outcome of events.* His flagrant statute, and both represent problems when it disregard for fairness and impartiality in not comes to the nitty gritty of business**. That recusing himself resulted in correspondence Cheadle was involved in the outsourcing and with the disciplinary committee of the Cape management of workers at the same time Law Society. He is now listed as Professor that he was tasked with protecting workers of Public Law at UCT. interests at the Labour Court of South Africa, Cheadle’s political career might have easily strikes one as beneath contempt. seen his entering politics as an activist and --David Robert Lewis* his ascendency to parliament as a party representative of the ruling ANC, instead he chose to become an extra-parliamentary * NOTE: The author of this article has laid a complaint judicial misconduct with the Judicial Services backbencher. His appearance on the bench of Commission. A complaint regarding the adjudication of as acting judge of the Labour Court was a matter before the Labour Court of South Africa has thus bound to raise eyebrows, the least of been referred to the South African Human Rights Commission and the Public Protector. Proceedings for which is the conflict of interest that goes with having been the principal author of the the impeachment of Michael Halton Cheadle are document which would have needed to be underway. interpreted during proceedings at the court. ** In 1919 Jewish businessman Arnold Rothstein was Instead of focusing on his professional of fixing the Baseball World Cup Series. He duties, Cheadle sought out a more lucrative, accused appeared before a grand jury. Although the state failed but nevertheless parallel career path, one to a secure a conviction, the players involved were which would invariably present itself with banned from the sport for life. Similarly, South African cricket captain Hansie Cronje was accused of matchall the difficulties and contradictions encountered by his possessing a directorship fixing in 2000. He received a life-time ban but was not convicted of any crime. in a firm engaged in free enterprise at the same time that he held the directorship of a well-known law firm. AN INJURY TO ONE IS AN INJURY TO ALL Not satisfied with simply being an academic, WORKER SOLIDARITY WITH MARIKANA or a party activist representing labour at the International Labour Organisation (ILO), Published by Medialternatives.com Cheadle is now also listed on the website Copyleft 2014, of the World Economic Forum, begging the this article may be freely distributed and copied. question: Who is Michael Halton Cheadle? What is clear is that South Africa’s Labour Czar has leveraged his privileged position,