BA and Jacobs case postponed

BA and Jacobs case postponed JESSE JACKSON KAURAISA

The labour case between Black Africa and former coach Woody Jacobs, which had been scheduled for today, has been postponed to February next year.

The postponement was granted after Black Africa officials wrote a letter to the labour commissioner’s office requesting a rescheduling because of the absence of their lawyer.

Namibian Sun also understands that there was a lack of communication between the two parties and the labour commissioner when the initial date was set.

Black Africa chairman Boni Paulino said: “As far as we know, the case has been postponed to February next year.

“There was a lack of communication between the labour commission, Woody Jacobs and Black Africa.

“Our lawyer had already left for the holidays by the time we received a notification that we must meet at the labour commissioner’s office tomorrow (today).

“It is not our fault that the case is postponed because the right channels of communication should have been used for this case to start.”

Jacobs dragged his former club to the labour commissioner after the club terminated his contract and gave him a new one in June, with 12 months to go before the old contract would have expired.

Jacobs argued that he was unfairly treated and demanded to be compensated for the way he was treated.

The coach left the club acrimoniously, stating that the new contract he had been offered was worse than the previous one.

The conciliation was slated for 1 December, but BA requested an extension to 15 December.

If conciliation fails, the case will proceed to arbitration, from where it can move on to the labour court if no solution is found.

Jacobs yesterday maintained that Black Africa was informed about the case a long time ago.

The coach said he would not dispute the rescheduling of the case, but would wait for justice to prevail.

“I am not in a hurry because I know that even if the case is postponed, we will still meet with those people.

“I believe that all the communication channels were correctly used and Black Africa claimed that their lawyer is not available,” Jacobs said.