Draft labour bills: Gazetted bills place South African jobs in jeopardy

The Democratic Alliance notes that draft amendments to the Labour Relations Act, Basic Conditions of Employment Act and Employment Equity Act, as well as a new piece of proposed legislation, the Public Employment Services Bill, have been published in the government gazette on Friday.

The DA believes that creating a vibrant, growing economy must be at the heart of efforts to address unemployment and alleviate poverty in South Africa. We believe that the state has a responsibility to protect workers' rights, but also cannot afford to pander to interest groups that are only interested in protecting their members, and have no concern for the plight of the majority of South Africans. We are concerned that these draft bills do precisely that.

In particular, we are concerned with the attempt to amend the Labour Relations Act, which would force employees to be employed permanently "unless the employer can establish a justification for employment on a fixed term". This measure would effectively ban labour brokers by stealth, and it therefore places in jeopardy as many as one million jobs in our economy. It is the single most serious legislative assault on South Africa's economic development that we have witnessed under the Zuma administration; in its present form, it simply cannot be passed by Parliament in good conscience.

The four draft bills in question require detailed examination; their intricate effects on our economy require extensive deliberation, and we hope that the Zuma administration, and legislators from all parties on the labour portfolio committee, will be sensitive to the potentially deleterious effects of some of the proposed amendments. Further, before reaching Parliament, these bills require urgent input from the public. Written comments need to be submitted by February 17, and we would urge members of the public, and those who are likely to be affected by this legislation, to involve themselves in the process at the earliest possible opportunity.

We have already identified several areas of these draft bills that we are concerned have been poorly formulated, or that could be harmful to our economy. In certain limited respects, we also recognise certain improvements in the gazetted drafts, from those that were leaked to the press earlier in the year. However, they remain far from acceptable, and if implemented would cost South Africa jobs. We will be submitting a full review of them in the New Year, with a list of proposed amendments.

Statement issued by Ian Ollis MP, Democratic Alliance Shadow Minister of Labour, December 19 2010

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