Question NW2994 to the Minister of Employment and Labour
23 September 2022 - NW2994
Hunsinger, Mr CH to ask the Minister of Employment and Labour
Whether he and/or his department submitted a policy review document and/or any other government policy document to structures outside of the Government, either to private and/or external structures or structures of any political affiliation during the past five years; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, (a) will he furnish Mr C H H Hunsinger with copies of all such documents and (b) what are the reasons that the Government documents were provided to each structure?
Reply:
When Government wants to propose labour reforms, such proposals will have to be submitted to NEDLAC for discussion. NEDLAC is a statutory body made-up of organised business, organised labour, community constituency and government representatives; and the law requires that proposals with socio economic impact must be tabled at NEDLAC for discussion. Such proposals at times culminate into the labour law reforms, which will require legislation amendments.
All our legislative amendments go through parliamentary processes before developing into law. A good example of such legislative amendments becoming law in the last five years is the Employment Equity Act, the Basic Conditions of Employment Act and the National Minimum Wage Act amongst others. Currency, organised business and organised labour have submitted proposals at NEDLAC for discussion. Should these proposals necessitate labour law reforms, the reforms will go through all the Parliamentary processes and Honourable Hunsinger will know of such proposals.
END