NEWS RELEASE - Date: Thursday, 21 February 2008

Mediation can save SA companies millions

This Centre for training mediators and teaching the concept of dispute settlement will provide an African hub for academic research, development and teaching of dispute settlement theory and practice.
Adv Ntsebeza said that in most disputes the parties are not even aware of the exact reasons why they are considering litigation, let alone the impact that a lengthy and drawn out court case could have on people, management time and financial resources.

“There is something to be said for mediation even before a court trial starts. At Equillore about 70% of the road accident fund issues are settled at the first mediation meeting. Mediation gives parties the ability to own the process. If parties own the process, they determine what is in their best interest and not in their legal interest,” said Ntsebeza.

He referred to South Africa’s negotiated settlement during the early nineties between the chief negotiators Cyril Ramaphosa and Roelf Meyer, who shared “complete trust”.
“This lesson has not filtered into our court system,” said Ntsebeza, in hindsight.
“We have seen at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) that African traditional values provide a notion of restorative justice. When elders meet, the aim is not to punish offenders but to serve them with responsibilities.”

USB’s Professor Barney Jordaan, who is the director of the Centre, said, “We need to change the way people think and act when it comes to disputes. Our principal aim is to act as a catalyst and thought leader in this process.”

He maintained that effective dispute settlement practices improve the lives of individuals, as well as the health and sustainability of organisations.
“Dispute settlement is informed by core values such as fairness, affordability, accessibility, accountability, efficiency and cost effectiveness,” says Jordaan.

“In the UK alone, the cost of conflict costs business £33bn (about R503bn), only £6bn (about R91bn) of which constitutes legal costs. Over and above the headline economic cost, eight out of 10 disputes have a significant impact on the smooth running of a business,” emphasised Jordaan.

So-called alternative forms of dispute resolution have been applied in the labour field, and to a limited extent, in commercial disputes. These include negotiation, mediation, arbitration, as well as hybrid forms of mediation and arbitration.

But litigation has remained the mainstream and principal mechanism for addressing disputes. The alternative mechanisms mostly remain optional, and tend to be used by a few converts.
“It is vital that there is a significant paradigm shift in thinking about mainstream dispute settlement. This applies not only to legal practitioners, but also to Government, business and individuals involved in disputes,” Jordaan explained.

“We need to apply a range of mechanisms in a multi-tiered approach to prevent, manage and settle disputes. Litigation remains an essential part of the arsenal, but this is now the ‘fall-back’, the method of dealing with those disputes that cannot be settled in any other way,” he said.
Dr John Fletcher, a South African working for the ADR Group in the UK – the oldest company offering mediation services in the UK with over 500 professionally trained mediators – says before parties go to court they will be asked if they went for mediation first. The ADR Group is a strategic partner of the Africa Centre for Dispute Settlement.

“In our experience, about 65% of companies settle at the first mediation meeting and a further 20% within a month after mediation has started. That is 85% settlement within one month of mediation. There is nothing touchy-feely about mediation. In most cases it offers both parties an opportunity to hear for the first time what the other is upset about,” explained Fletcher.

The focus of the Africa Centre for Dispute Settlement is on Africa and ensuring that African heritage and values are incorporated into developing solutions that suit African conditions.

The target market of the new Centre includes people involved in disputes, business, legal practitioners and those involved in the administration of justice. The types of disputes with which it will be concerned are far ranging and include family, labour and commercial disputes.

The Centre will provide an environment where practice and theory in dispute settlement are given a proper academic underpinning. Through its partnership with Equillore Ltd (formerly known as The Arbitration Forum), a public company that has for the past 10 years been commercially active in the field of enabling dispute settlement, the Centre combines academic excellence with real-world practical experience. The purpose is to become a change agent in the way people think and act in relation to dispute settlement.

Apart from research, the Africa Centre for Dispute Settlement will also offer a number of short courses and post graduate programmes in dispute settlement.

For more information about the Africa Centre for Dispute Settlement contact director of the Centre, Prof Barney Jordaan on 021 975 2050, or disputesettlement@usb.ac.za. Visit www.usb.ac.za/disputesettlement.

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