Known for being well organised and well prepared, Lusanda is also flexible and adaptable – attributes that become apparent when the unexpected lands on her desk. She is invariably calm and collected, which clients and team members alike find reassuring, particularly when there is a contentious employment matter to deal with.

Much of Lusanda’s work involves transactional support, dealing with the employment law consequences of commercial transactions and corporate restructurings. She regularly handles employment investigations concerning allegations of fraud, racial discrimination, sexual harassment and the like, and does a significant amount of work on separations with senior executives, as well as in relation to retrenchments, redundancies, unfair dismissal matters and unfair labour practices.

She is a director of the South African Society for Labour Law (SASLAW) pro bono company, which is the company responsible for the pro bono clinics that provide free employment law services to indigent individuals at the various Labour Courts in South Africa. Lusanda has sat as an acting judge at the Labour Courts in Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth.

She has written articles on employment law that have been published in local and international publications and has spoken at employment law conferences in South Africa and abroad.

Technically able and personable, she has a talent for pulling together effective teams, often across multiple jurisdictions, that deliver the best results for clients. Her leadership style has been described as inclusive and she is a good listener with the ability to assimilate both the detail and the essence of a discussion and to translate this into usable legal solutions.

Education:

• University of KwaZulu-Natal, BSocSci
• University of the Witwatersrand, LLB
• University of Oxford, Said Business School programme on Leading Professional Service Firms

Professional Memberships:

• Lusanda heads up the Africa Middle East (AMEA) region of the Employment Law Alliance, a worldwide network of employment lawyers.

Relevant Experience

Jurisdictions worked in/for: South Africa; Kenya; Nigeria; Senegal; the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom; France; Germany, the United States; Zimbabwe; Mauritius; Cameroon; Ethiopia.

• Lusanda has advised on the employment law aspects of a number of significant commercial transactions, including:
  • Ardagh Group SA in relation to an acquisition of Consol Holdings (Pty) Ltd, Africa’s leading producer of glass packaging; and
  • MTN in relation to the sale of 50% of the issued shares held in aYo Holdings to Sanlam and the subscription by MTN and Sanlam for further shares in the company.
• Lusanda regularly manages projects for multi-jurisdictional employers, working together with lawyers in other countries to give clients consolidated employment law support across various African jurisdictions. Clients find this “one stop shop” approach beneficial, efficient, and seamless in terms of the consistency of the quality of the legal advice given, as well as how the advice is packaged for the client.
• Lusanda runs complex multi-facetted investigations, often spanning across various legal areas and needing multi-disciplinary teams.

Signature Matters

• A major catering group
• Transnet Group SOC Ltd

• South Africa: When working from home becomes permanent
• South Africa: New BCEA threshold and increase in national minimum wage
• COVID-19: TERS applications closing dates
• COVID-19: Employers Can Secure Alert Level 3 Compliance Quickly and Easily
• Some go back to their offices, but some are still at home
• COVID-19 and school closures – impact on the workplace
• COVID-19 and employee time off work: a guideline for employers
• ConCourt confirms constitutionality of LRA retrenchment consultation process
• From #METOO to #AMINEXT – Addressing gender-based sexual violence in the workplace
• Competent verdicts are applicable in workplace disciplinary matters
• Settlement agreement founded on a common mistake is invalid
• How 4IR could boost public service delivery and rein in costs
• True or false: misrepresentation is a headache for employers
• SA is not alone in grappling with labour broking and working hours
• Chinese companies in SA
• Bring ‘hidden’ employee costs to light before the deal is done
• Seven employee concerns to look out for in African M&A deals
• Restraints of trade: a useful guide for employers
• Employers can’t take away employee benefits willy-nilly
• An employer should accommodate an incapacitated employee – within reasonable limits
• How much does it cost an employer to retrench an employee?
• Fingerprint biometrics – an employment law perspective
• How much does it cost an employer to retrench an employee?
• COVID-19: Safe Return to Work Pack – ensuring compliance quickly and easily