Question NW2428 to the Minister of Employment and Labour
17 July 2023 - NW2428
Abrahams, Ms ALA to ask the Minister of Employment and Labour
(1)With reference to the Fourth Quarter Report for the 2022-23 financial year of the Department of Social Development which indicates that primarily the National Treasury and the Department of Employment and Labour need to provide comments and inputs before Cabinet is requested for approval to regazette the Green Paper for public comments (details furnished), (a) what are the reasons that his department has not provided comments and input on the presentation as it appears to be delaying the development of the green paper on Comprehensive Social Security and Retirement Reforms and (b) on what date does his department envisage to provide their comments and input on the green paper; (2) what is his department’s position on the (a) Green Paper and (b) National Social Security Fund within the Green Paper; (3) what are the full and relevant details of the comments and input that his department intend to provide on the Green Paper?
Reply:
The Department has provided comments prior to the recent workshop held in April 2023. After attending the April 2023 workshop, the Department through Compensation Fund identified fundamental issues that need to be resolved before providing additional comments.
In the recent document provided by DSD for comments it is apparent that the social security provided by The Compensation Fund is not fully understood e.g. the contributions are not paid from employees and are from employers with a risk based classification model. We therefore await further discussions because the paper does not fully cover the plight of injured workers considering the Compensation Fund is mandated to cover medical costs and ensure injured workers return to work
The may be further comments that the Department may wish to make, however we recommend that DSD hold another discussion where the fundamental issues that were raised at the April session are addressed
The department acknowledges the support for the Green paper and National Security Fund. The complex functions of one of our entities in having a risk based collection from employers and contributing to improved occupational health together with an integrated approach of providing medical care, return to work and temporary and long term benefits that aim to address the unique health and pension needs of the injured worker must be noted and these are aspects that must be considered.
As the Green Paper evolves and some of what the Department has raised in its comments, further input would then be depended on the nature of the new text.