Director-General of Labour Nkosinathi Nhleko has identified inspection and enforcement of labour legislations as one of his key priorities during his tenure to ensure level of compliance in the workplace.
In his first address to staff at the Pretoria Show Grounds this week Nhleko expressed concern at the flouting of occupational health and safety standards in the workplaces.
The inspection and enforcement services (IES) Business Unit of the Department of Labour kicked-off its work early in the year, and has to date visited the provinces of KwaZulu-Natal and Free State and Nhleko has expressed concern at the unrestrained flouting of occupation safety standards.
As part of the unfolding enforcement programme, in July (next month) Labour department inspectors will invade Limpopo. This is part of the on-going nation-wide blitz inspections that will run until next year.
The crackdown will focus on ensuring promotion of good labour practices, compliance with labour laws and advise on labour laws. The inspections will target high risk companies involved in sectors such as: agriculture, chemicals, construction, iron and steel industries.
Turning to matters internally, Nhleko also emphasised that managers have a responsibility to serve in a consistent manner, while at the same time provide leadership and guidance.
“As managers we have to listen and accommodate views from people we manage. I believe we can learn a lot from staff. Learning does not come to a halt, but an on-going process. Staff have a right to express a view on how they need to be managed better,” said Nhleko committing himself to an open-door policy and transparency.
He cautioned though, that listening does not mean agreeing, ‘the principle is that from time to time as managers we must engage in constant interaction with staff’.
He promised to address issues around staff capacity saying where talent exists needed to be nurtured to improve productivity.
The Director-General has identified beefing administration with personnel as critical in ensuring delivery. Nhleko has also committed to look at impediments in internal systems. He said he has already set in motion a process to conduct an audit on the efficacy of Private Public Partnership (PPP) contracts the department has. He said a task team was due to submit a report and recommendations over the next few weeks.
“The focus should be on service delivery and most of this lies in the provincial offices and labour centres. We will be sending a delegation to look at constraints to improve on the work we do at provinces and offer support,” he said.
Nhleko will in July embark on an exploration visit of Labour department offices. This will culminate with visits to Department of Labour business entities such as the Productivity South Africa, the Compensation Fund (CF) – which covers for compensation of workers injured during work or diseases sustained or contracted by employees in the course of their work, and the Unemployment Fund (UIF) – a fund in which employers and employees contribute and from which employees who become unemployed or their beneficiaries are entitled to benefits.
He said he was preparing for the upcoming Lekgotla to submit a blue-print as part of his input, and has promised to scale -up delivery once a framework on the way forward has been approved.
Enquiries:
Page Boikanyo
Departmental spokesman
Cell: 082 809 3195
Source: Department of Labour
Labour DG promises to empower provincial offices to ensure service delivery
