Question NW1525 to the Minister of Employment and Labour
24 June 2021 - NW1525
Ngcobo, Mr S to ask the Minister of Employment and Labour
With regard to the Inter-Ministerial Committee co-chaired by him and the Minister of Home Affairs established in 2020, what measures have been put in place to effectively deal with issues of migration and labour since the inception of the specified committee?
Reply:
Since the establishment of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Migration and Labour we have put a number of measures that include the following:
- Establishment of a Technical Committee of Directors General that supports member Ministers on migration cross cutting measures that may be short, medium and long term that must be implemented to address various identified challenges.
- Developed a detailed discussion document that identified various Constitutional and existing Legislation and Regulations, Southern African Development Community and African Union instruments and protocols, Global Migration Treaties and Conventions, Courts judgements in relation to migration cases that we must always be mindful off and Legal opinions.
- We continue to implement short term measures that include, improvements in border management, joint enforcement and inspections on the roads and employment premises.
- We have established a National and Provincial Trucking, Logistics and Road Freight Forums that brought all stakeholders within the sector together to address the torching and looting of trucks, presence of foreign drivers and collective bargaining within the sector.
- The Action Plans developed, details measures that each Department is initiating in the areas of Statistics and projection of foreign nationals in the country, criminal and security measures, justice, human rights, social development, trade and bilateral agreements, agriculture etc.
- The Medium and long term measures include policy harmonization and development where there are gaps. The Department of Employment and Labour has developed a Draft National Labour Migration Policy and Draft proposed Employment Services Amendment Bill aligned to the policy that I will release as soon as I have completed internal government processes. The Department of Home Affairs is also reviewing the Immigration Act in its entirety.
- We have also established Committees that are assisting us to address other urgent matters relating to migration such as processing of Applications for Waivers of the current Immigration Act provisions, Work Visa applications by foreign nationals or corporates.
- We have made Submissions to brief Cabinet on the activities of the IMC.