Question NW2405 to the Minister of Employment and Labour
13 November 2020 - NW2405
Ngwezi, Mr X to ask the Minister of Employment and Labour
(1)In view of the findings of a recent survey (details furnished) conducted by a certain company (name furnished) that underemployment had risen among domestic workers during lockdown and a study (details furnished) conducted by a certain institution (name and details furnished) which found that instances of abuse, ill-treatment, sexual assault and rape increased during lockdown as workers were forced to live in close proximity with their employers for extended periods, (a) what total number of complaints did his department receive from domestic workers and/or other interested parties on their behalf about (i) employers not adhering to mandated wages, (ii) sexual assault and (iii) rape, (b) how long did it take his department to dispatch inspectors in response to the specified complaints and (c) what total number of cases of wage disputes were resolved and resulted in a settlement being reached; (2)whether any of the complaints were made through the Impimpa Hotline; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, what total number of complaints; (3)whether, in view of the Chief Director of Collective Bargaining, Thembinkosi Mkalipi’s indication upon the launch of the specified hotline that a dashboard would be made available on a weekly basis, his department published the findings from the complaints on its website; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details; (4)whether he has found that the R20 million which was earmarked to raise awareness on the hotline has indeed been utilised for that purpose; if so, (5)whether he will furnish Mr X Ngwezi with the full, relevant details of (a) how and (b) where the specified amount was spent?
Reply:
1. a). Domestic Worker Cases
|
Sector |
Received |
Inspected |
Compliant |
Not Compliant |
Scheduled |
Cancelled |
|
Domestic |
25 699 |
3289 |
2958 |
331 |
3954 |
473 |
(i) The statistics for the Lockdown period (Quarters 1 & 2 of the 2020/21 Financial Year is still being verified and interrogated.
(ii) The Department does not maintain statistics in respect of sexual assault cases as these are criminal matters.
(iii) The Department does not maintain statistics in respect of rape cases as these are criminal matters.
(b) In reference to national Minimum Wage (NMW) Cases, 7 days is the turnaround time to resolve the issue. Unfortunately, due to Covid - 19 Pandemic, Inspectors had to undertake Administrative Inspections (working from home) which made adherence to this time-limit difficult.
(c) The statistics for the Lockdown period (Quarters 1 & 2 of the 2020/21 Financial Year is still being verified and interrogated.
(2) Yes, complaints were made through the Impimpa Hotline. Since the inception of the Impimpa Hotline in March 2020, 178 000 cases have been reported
(3) To ensure the effective monitoring and enforcement of the national minimum wage, my department developed a reporting line to allow workers to report cases of non-compliance with the national minimum wage without any cost to them which I subsequently launched on the 5th March 2020.
To recognise the Batho Pele principle of openness and transparency and to hold us accountable on whether the cases reported on the reporting line were resolved within the stipulated time-frames, a dashboard was built to extract data from the system. The data would then be published on the department’s website on a weekly basis.The data was subsequently published on the website but that was unfortunately halted as a result of the Covid-19 lockdown.
4. The success of this hotline was very much dependent on properly marketingit to ensure that it is communicated to all employees. My department therefore engaged GCIS to arrange for the marketing and advertising of this NMW Impimpa reporting line.
It was therefore crucial to use different media platforms in order to ensure that the information on the system reached all the intended beneficiaries. The department therefore made use of about six media platforms (print, radio, taxi rank advertising, train station advertising, television and social media) amounting to R21 620 000 00 to cover the cost of marketing and advertising of the NMW Impimpa hotline.
(5) The department made use of six media platforms (print, radio, taxi rank advertising, train station advertising, television and social media) amounting to R21 620 000 00 to ensure that the message is delivered to all stakeholders.
Since the launch of the NMW Impimpa hotline in March, employees have been making use of this service as to date about 178 000 cases were recorded on the NMW Impimpa dashboardbut it has unfortunately been temporarily put on hold as the department has received more numbers than anticipated which has put the department on pressure with regards to funding.