DOL adopts ICT strategy

The Department of Labour (DOL) is turning to an ICT strategy to deal with capacity issues within the department and its public entities.

The department yesterday met with the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) in Parliament, after the portfolio committee expressed concerns with the DOL annual reports and financial statements.

The committee members said that after attaining a clean audit last year after six years of negative audits by the auditor-general (AG), the department's financial statements were “skidding on shaky ground”.

Deputy director-general (DG) of Corporate Services, Lerato Molebatsi, said a process is unfolding in partnership with Accenture to deal with the capacity issues.

The department has committed to strengthening its supply chain management processes and appointing well trained personnel.

Addressing the meeting, DOL DG Nkosinathi Nhleko said an appropriately staffed department and competent workforce are critical to addressing lapses in governance structures.

“Trust is good, but control is better. Prevent and detect when things go wrong. We want the department to have in place a strong risk management team,” said chairman of Scopa, Themba Godi. He called for an end to continuous process of reengineering and refocusing, saying it was time for implementation.

Scopa members had earlier raised concerns about aspects of the department's procurement and contract management not following guidelines. They had also raised issues on irregular expenditure, irregular personnel compensation, wrongful remunerations, the lack of performance of programmes, adequacy of management, and high vacancy rates.

Chairman of the Parliamentary portfolio committee on labour, Eleck Nchabeleng, said the draft Labour Relations Act (LRA) and Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA) would be tabled in Parliament by next week.

“We still have a lengthy time to discuss the drafts before these become law.”

The DOL says the LRA and BCEA seek to address the prevention of exploitation of workers, regulate abusive behaviour of labour brokers, make it easier for workers to join unions, strengthen the role of dispute resolution institutions, deal with violent strikes, protection of vulnerable workers, and introduce the element of flexibility to make it easier for employers to dismiss high earners (those that earn above R1 million).

In the proposed amendments, workers would be able to cite both the employer and the labour broker. Once workers are employed full-time after a six-month contract, they will not be employed on terms less favourable than those of full-time employees. In the proposed amendments, a workplace for a worker is where she or he works irrespective of where they are registered, adds the department.

Exemptions to the new proposed labour amendments will apply to seasonal workers and fixed-term contract workers. A further flexibility would include employers who employ less than 10 employees and those that have less than two years in operation, as these are at a critical stage of their existence.

The DOL has concluded a process of national public briefings to various stakeholders on the proposed amendments. Business has called for regulation of the labour broking sector, while trade unions say they will accept nothing less than a complete ban.