Mildred Oliphant is a wrecking ball

Source: Polity, 23/11/2015

DA MP says Minister of Labour's term in office has been characterised
by inaction and disinterest


The following remarks were made by the DA Shadow Minister of Labour,
Ian Ollis MP, at a press conference today on the DA`s proposals to
repair the damage to the economy caused by an Absentee Minister and
bad policy choices. He was joined by DA Deputy Shadow Minister of
Labour, Michael Bagraim MP, and DA Member on the Labour Committee,
Derrick America MP.


Throughout her tenure the Minister of Labour, Mildred Oliphant, has
displayed that she is not interested in fixing her Department which
sits at the apex of job creation in South Africa. Her time as Labour
Minister has been characterised with inaction and disinterest at the
crumbling labour sector that is supposed to be creating jobs. It is
time for serious interventions in South African labour relations and
for reasons detailed here, a new Minister is needed to spearhead this
process.


Detailed in our proposed action plan to turn around labour relations
in SA is an extensive list of her failings as Labour Minister over the
last six years.


The latest disaster in her Department is that the visa catastrophe in
South Africa is not limited to tourist visas, but now engulfs work
permits too. Yet throughout this entire debacle she has been
completely missing in action. Annual Reports of the Department
presented to the Parliamentary Labour Committee made it clear that out
of 95 corporate work application visas, only 53% were
processed.

The result is that out of a potential 18 077 work
opportunities, 5 336 jobs were not realised. Similarly out of 741
individual work application visas received, only 68% were processed
and only 211 were granted.


It is widely recognised that appointing a skilled worker in a new
position leads to downstream employment for 3 to 5 semi-skilled or
unskilled workers. Skilled workers create jobs. Every new small
business creates jobs. The new role of the Department of Labour in
vetting or approving corporate or individual work permits, and scarce
skilled visas, is an unmitigated disaster. The Minister of Labour and
her Department have dropped the ball. The Department seems unwilling
or unable to even process 47% of Corporate Visa Applications and
Individual Visas are not much better.


The DA is receiving endless complaints from skilled workers and
companies about the problems encountered. Minimum costs to apply are
over R1400 per person. No feedback is given to the applicant if the
application is turned down. The report from the Department of Labour
may not be inspected or checked by the applicant to verify if the
information in the report is correct, or the reasons for the decline
are accurate. The applicant merely forfeits the R1400 application fee
and must begin again or give up.


The Labour Minister does not appear to have an overall vision for her
Department and does not demonstrate that she cares about the
collapsing labour relations environment, increasing violence between
unions and strike violence, serious unemployment rate or corruption in
her department. Her vision seems to be a laissez-faire attitude and
sometimes has been forced to surrender her role to the Deputy
President. The Minister introduced stringent conditions on labour
brokers which have been shown in the past year, by both Cosatu and the
business community, to have led to the decimation of jobs in the
country.


Over the two years South Africa has experience protracted and
economically crippling strikes across numerous sectors, ranging from
the mining and farming to municipal and even education sectors.


Minister Oliphant has failed to comment - let alone intervene
with resources at her disposal - on most of these.


The recent rise in labour unrest across suggests that government,
particularly Minister Oliphant, and President Zuma are not doing
enough to facilitate efficient labour bargaining practices, prevent
strikes and save jobs. It is particularly worrying that the Minister
is always missing from negotiations that are crucial to the success of
her Department.


Instead of addressing the elephant in the room, the ANC bludgeoned the
LRA Amendment Act through Parliament, no doubt in an attempt to fill
the void left by a directionless and absent Minister, resulting in
proven job losses.


To add to these recent and catastrophic failings, the Minister has,
amongst other things:
- Allowed unions to ride roughshod over her, effectively giving unions
and other forces her Executive authority.


- Promoted Mr. Herbert Mkhize, the former Executive Director of
Nedlac, to the position of Special Advisor to the Minister after he
was found in an independent Forensic report to have enriched himself
at taxpayers` expense, by misusing the state credit card and Nedlac
travel suppliers to the value of more than R1 million at taxpayers`
expense.


- Not attended Oral Questions sessions in the National Assembly (NA)
to answer questions on labour but sent her deputy instead. She did not
even attend the NA debate on the National Minimum Wage.
- The Minister has, according to the minutes of all labour committee
meetings in Parliament, not attended a single meeting of the
Parliamentary Labour Committee responsible for oversight of the
Minister and her Department, since she was appointed Minister of
Labour in 2010. The ANC has also refused repeated requests by
opposition parties to summon her or request that she attend. She is
the most unaccountable Labour Minister to ever be appointed. The
Oliphant isn`t even in the room!


- Minister Oliphant refuses to give proper answers to parliamentary
questions, gives no answer, or tries to obfuscate the truth with
non-responses.


- The Minister put the senior legal advisor of her department and
Ministry on 3 years of paid suspension costing the taxpayer R 3.4
million.


- On the watch of the Minister of Labour, R 2.3 billion is being spent
on investigating "the introduction of a national minimum wage and to
determine its impact on the wage structure" and related activities,
without any policy documents, draft bills or Nedlac position papers in
place.


- Under this Minister of Labour the disastrous Compensation Fund has
now almost entirely collapsed with research conducted by the DA and
host of surveys conducted by prominent employer organisations, medical
associations and private homecare companies showing the complete
breakdown of services.


- Finally The Minister`s Illegal suspension of the Registrar of Labour
Relations was found by the court to be improper as the Minister had no
applied her mind to the written submissions of the registrar, in the
matter of the case of trade union Ceppwawu. This action alone was
clear political interference and the court ordered the re-instatement
of the Registrar.


As a matter of urgency and to improve the conditions within the
Department of Labour, the DA would do the following with regards to
the Department and Minister of Labour:


- Remove the Minister and replace her with a Minister committed to
serious interventions to improve and democratise labour relations, end
violence and be accountable to Parliament
- Appoint a private administrator to administer the medical aid
portion of the Compensation Fund.


- Urgently table legislation to end or limit strike violence, as
proposed by the DA`s Private Member's Bill.


- Suspend the Minister's Special Advisor, Herbert Mkhize, and
institute disciplinary proceedings against him regarding the
misappropriation of funds as per the forensic audit at Nedlac.


- Fully re-instate the Registrar of Labour Relations and prevent any
kind of politicisation of his role, including guaranteeing his
independence.


- Enforce secret balloting in the constitutions of all trade unions,
and the practical implementation of this measure for all strike action
in the country.


- Repeal Section 32 of the Labour Relations Act, preventing the
extension of Bargaining Council Agreement to non-parties, which occurs
in an undemocratic fashion.


- Ensure that all visa applications referred to the Department of
Labour be processed within seven days and the relevant parties
notified of the outcomes.


South Africa is facing an unemployment crisis that is leaving millions
of young South Africans without an opportunity to pursue a life they
value. This crisis is being exacerbated by the failures of the
Minister and the Department of Labour. Without swift action in this
regard, our labour sector will continue to decay and haemorrhage even
more jobs and economic growth at the same time.


Issued by Ian Ollis, DA Shadow Minister of Labour, 23 November 2015.


Corrected version issued 24 November 2015.