Lumka Yengeni must break her silence and resign
8 June 2016
The DA calls upon the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Labour, and ANC MP, Lumka Yengeni, to break her silence and restore confidence in the Portfolio Committee on Labour by tendering her resignation as chairperson effective immediately.
Ms Yengeni’s continued silence is disgraceful. She simply cannot continue her chairpersonship over the committee, having violated the very rights she should be protecting.
Ms Yengeni was found by the CCMA to have:
- Failed to supply a letter of appointment or an employment contract to the domestic worker;
- She failed to give the domestic worker a payslip;
- Her employee was not given leave, and never paid for any leave;
- Her employee was not paid double on public holidays despite the fact being forced to work on public holidays;
- Her employee could not choose time off and worked in excess of the hours expected of her;
- Her employee was never informed that she was registered for UIF (it appears that this registration took place after she left);
- There were no deductions from the employees payment for the UIF etc.,
- Her employee was on call throughout the night and far exceeded any overtime as outlined in the Basic conditions of Employment Act;
- Her employee was paid a lesser wage than the other employee and thereby showing discrimination and breach of the Labour Relations Act;
- Her employee was promised a uniform and an overall and work shoes which promise was never filled thereby rendering it a breach of contract;
- Her employee did not have the legislated gap between one shift and another (in essence she was on duty twenty four hours out of every twenty four);
- Her employee was in employ from the 15th July 2013 up until the 14th February 2016 and throughout that period did not receive any leave of any nature;
- The employee was merely informed that her employment was terminated, she was not given the right to a hearing and nor was she given any notice;
- The employee did not have any reason for the termination of her employment (this being a complete breach of the employees’ rights in terms of The Labour Relations Act).
This behavior by a public representative, much less the Chairperson of Parliament’s Labour Committee is unacceptable.
- Mrs. Yengeni has travelled the length and breadth of South Africa lambasting employers for breaking the country’s labour laws when in fact she herself was in breach of these same laws
- Mrs Yengeni, as the Chairperson of the Labour Committee is responsible for oversight of the CCMA and the Department of Labour, the very entities, which have essentially found her guilty of being in breach of the country’s labour laws, the very laws she is charged with overseeing.
The DA will be not standby whilst Ms Yengeni flouts her duties as the chairperson of a critical portfolio that affects the lives of all workers in South Africa. She must resign and she must do so with haste.
Issued by Ian Ollis, DA Shadow Minister of Labour, 8 June 2016
