Didata, NTT provided all records of remuneration committee meetings, court says

Dimension Data and Japanese parent company NTT have provided all documents required by former IT specialist Andile Ngcaba in his equal-pay court battle against the companies, the high court in Johannesburg held on Wednesday.

The court ruled that the application by Ngcaba — a Didata Middle East and Africa chair from 2004 to 2016 — in which he sought to compel Didata and NTT to make better discovery of all minutes of Didata's remuneration committee meetings, has been complied with.

The court made this order in an application brought by Ngcaba to assist in the preparation of his case, after hearing evidence from former Didata CEO Brett Dawson on Wednesday.

Dawson, CEO of Didata until 2016, testified that after Didata was delisted after being acquired by NTT in 2010, no minutes were taken of remuneration committee meetings.  

This order means that the case in which Ngcaba is seeking R271m from his former employer, claiming he was not paid the same as members of the team that reported to him, could begin.

In November last year, acting judge Nzame Skibi ruled that the application by Ngcaba to compel Didata and NTT to discover the minutes of the meetings be referred to oral evidence as the dispute could not be resolved on the papers alone.

When the application began on Wednesday, counsel for Dimension Data and NTT, Jenny Cane SC, told the court that the parties were in agreement that the minutes of the remuneration committee meetings between 2005 and 2010, before the company was delisted, had been provided to Ngcaba.

She said the only dispute was whether Didata had provided all minutes of remuneration committee meetings to Ngcaba after the company's delisting.

Dawson testified that after NTT acquired Didata, the Japanese parent company had sent letters to Didata in SA approving recommendations made by Didata's Middle East and Africa remuneration committee.

When lawyer Dali Mpofu cross-examined Dawson, he asked why there was a differentiation of remuneration between Ngcaba and executives reporting to him.

Skibi told Mpofu that his line of questioning of Dawson went to issues of determination in Ngcaba's main action, on the differentiation of payment to Ngcaba.

Mpofu said that is what the case was all about

“There is only one issue in this trial. It is the differential payment of Mr Ngcaba. If we cannot discuss the issue, we might as well close shop,” Mpofu said.

Skibi said what he was required to decide at present was whether Didata and NTT are compelled to discover or make better discovery.

“If you go to the merits in the differentiation of payment, we are taking this matter too far to a trial stage where this matter would be determined by the trial court,” Skibi said.

In his judgment on Wednesday, Skibi said parties were in agreement that there was full discovery of the remuneration committee meetings between 2006 and 2010.

“I am satisfied that before delisting, (Didata and NTT) complied with the plaintiff's (Ngcaba's) notice to discover,” Skibi said.

Skibi said that after Dawson's evidence he was satisfied that on the issue relevant to these proceedings that, after the delisting of Didata, there were no further minutes of the remuneration committee.

“Mr Dawson stood firm on the position that no minutes were taken after the post-delisting period.”

Skibi reserved the costs of this application for the main application.

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