A dedication Farewell to the woman with 8 years of service and dedication to the Companies Tribunal:

One month gender Parity wonder: For a month the Tribunal boasted of a 50:50 gender parity. As of September, no more. Today the Tribunal bid farewell to its 8-year serving female employee, Ms. Charmaine Galloway.

Charmaine served the Tribunal in the capacity of Executive Assistant in the Office of the COO. Eight years is a descent time. It is long enough to bestow one with good knowledge and good experience of an institution, and often wisdom. Job-departures are a fact of life. They may be delayed but are sure to happen to all at some point. For various reasons.  Irrespective of the reasons, they leave in-prints in our memories.

As human beings we are multi-dimensional. This is even more true with women. A one side story is incomplete. Consequently, I have many memories of my experiences with Charmaine. I have many ways of remembering her. I have a choice on which memories to hold on to. I have choices on what to write. Today, this is how I choose to remember her:

• A colleague who tried to assist all, while believing that everyone should do their job,
• “An encyclopedia” for various information as a colleague aptly described her,
• A ‘night owl’” who easily worked out of working hours to meet deadlines,
• An ‘alarm-clock’ that rang and reminded us of the important timelines,
• An ‘editor’ who carefully and painstakingly went through documents,
• A “communicator” who spread news far and wide often to the benefit of others,
• A “helper” who gave a lift and dropped off colleagues to various locations,
• A mother who did her best to balance parental duties and official duties, and
• A woman with a good sense of humor.

In the office of the COO,

• admittedly we ‘fought ‘hard.
• Importantly we worked long hours and very hard.
• Un-beknown to some, we also laughed very, very hard. ‎

Farewell. No doubt the next job will be a success. The world is a small place.

Maletlatsa Monica Ledingwane

Chief Operations Officer (COO)