M Mdladlana: Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration
tenth Anniversary

28 November 2006

Chairperson of the governing body of the CCMA,
Leaders of organised business and organised labour,
Governing body members,
Judge President of the labour court and justices,
Honoured guests,
Ladies, gentleman,

Tonight we gathered here to celebrate ten years of the CCMA's existence.
This is an important milestone for all of us. What a pleasure to be with my
comrades on this momentous occasion. Comrades who are at the thick of things. I
am pleased by your presence.

The fact is that barely more than 10 years ago the South African labour
market and the dispute resolution mechanism were fractured: divided by race,
class, sector and even ideology. Little was held in common between competing
interests. We had no uniform dispute resolution system. The old Industrial
Court was inaccessible, unaffordable and unable to meet the requirements of the
changing workplace. It did not enjoy the sanction or legitimacy of the majority
of workers.

Many of you will recall that disputes that arose were often unprocedural and
unregulated, frequently leading to bitter and protracted conflicts, with the
ever-present threat of violence and disruption. The workplace was figuratively,
if not literally, in a state of revolt. In the ten years of its existence the
CCMA has rewritten the dispute resolution landscape in South Africa. It has
established itself as a defender and protector of rights, freedoms and
responsibilities.

It has emerged as one of the pre-eminent post apartheid institutions. It is
a role model on social dialogue, partnerships and collaboration. CCMA embodies
the best of our collective will. It has become the platform for us to face our
own problems and challenges and made us able to deal with very serious and
bitter conflicts and adversarial that plagued our labour market. Indeed tonight
we must salute the triumph of the CCMA.

We know conflicts still continue, we have a fair share of strikes and
disputes but I daresay they are more routinely managed with the kind of
maturity and procedurals which only a few years ago would have been
unthinkable. I know there are amongst us, perhaps not this evening, critics who
say that we cannot afford the luxury of the CCMA, that it has set the bar too
high, and expect standards of conduct and performance not suited to an emerging
economy.

One hears these critics all the time, but one wonders where they were when
we were building the system, when we were negotiating to pass it into law. To
them I say they have a price for everything, but know the value of nothing. The
CCMA is a prize for which we struggled and it is a price that we are prepared
to pay.

This is the price of social and economic progress. This is the price of
modern industrial citizenship. We are not going back. The international
community, in particular the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and its
Director-General, holds the CCMA out as a world example of true labour reform
and social dialogue.

We are not going back to a system that discriminated against working men and
women. A system where there was no, or little, constraint against the abuse of
workers. A system where working men and women were treated as commodities to be
bought and sold on the market.

The CCMA has led the way to a labour market that affords every working man
and women equality before the law, respect and dignity in the workplace, within
a framework of universal labour rights forged to our own particular needs and
economic circumstances. The CCMA has made "best labour practice" truly its own,
in a robust balance between what is just in our society and what is necessary
for continuing growth and development.

The difficult business of balancing universally accepted labour rights with
our own social and economic imperatives, of balancing social justice with the
requirements of economic progress, fell in the first instance to those who
participated in the process of crafting and drafting the legislation that led
to the establishment of the CCMA. We recognise their contribution.

We also recognise the contribution of the Governing Body who have steered
the CCMA safely and surely, occasionally under enemy fire, into calmer and
clearer waters. For me the CCMA represents the "idea" of a durable social
partnership translated into practice and action. The CCMA is not only a
"think-tank"; it is also a "factory": a place where social justice is made, day
by day.

Social partnership is a big idea, often fragile and frequently elusive. It
is however, an idea that we hold very closely, indeed it is the recurring theme
of the success we have achieved in the last 10 years and the key to our future
growth and prosperity.

It is a credit to all the role-players here this evening that they were able
to take this idea and transform it into a sustainable model of dispute
resolution. A model that has processed over 1 million cases, 10 000 a month,
500 per day, in every corner of the country with a combined resolution rate of
over 70%.

By any indicator in the dispute resolution chain, the CCMA has proven the
strength of the idea and the success of its business model. The benefits it has
brought to the workplace, the culture it has inspired, the efficiencies it has
introduced into our labour market, are incalculable. I might say that the CCMA
is frequently approached by many countries and institutions to assist in the
development of their equivalent dispute resolution agencies.

The legacy of the last 10 years is written in the case files of hundreds of
thousands of men and women who have been given a chance of a better life.
Hundreds and thousands of wrongs have been corrected; thousands of abuses have
been prevented or resolved. Millions have acquired the freedoms of workplace
citizenship and a new vocabulary of rights.

It is in the lives of these people, from the most humble to the most
eminent, that the idea of the CCMA is rooted. The idea has implanted itself
into the workplace and has started to become a new reality. It would not be
smart for me to stand here tonight without acknowledging the trials and
challenges that the CCMA has faced during the ten years of its existence.

In this regard I would like to suggest that you look at the commemorative
book that has been published for this event. It lays out the complex planning
and logistical structure behind the public face of the CCMA. This is by any
measure a large and complex agency with multiple functions and differentiated
structures, stretching over every Province, with 10 major regional centres.

It operates under tight time lines in what is inevitably a high-pressure
environment. This is not for the feint-hearted and must be one of the most
stressed working environments imaginable. In this context we must expect things
to go wrong from time to time. Things can and will go wrong. Clearly where
things go wrong they have to be fixed and they are.

I think it is also a testament to the CCMA that apart from its historic
mission, it has also risen to the organisational challenge of managing a new
and growing institution. Last year alone the CCMA was very successful in
reducing turnaround resolution times and innovating new approaches to
adjudication that have led to dramatic improvements in processing cases.

I think one of the strengths of the CCMA is the people that it has attracted
over the years. Again the commemorative book is instructive, listing a
who's-who of gifted and talented people. Not only have these people realised
the vision of the CCMA, but they have also built it from the ground up,
virtually brick-by-brick. This is not the time or place for critical reflection
of the way forward. I know the Governing Body, Nerine and her team are giving
thought to this, as are other stakeholders in the labour market. Allow me just
to set out a few broad parameters for this purpose.

Firstly, the changing world of work continually imposes upon us an
obligation to review our positions against new needs and interests. Our law
must both lead and reflect our reality. New realities need to be confronted and
not ignored. We may clearly have different views on what these realities are
and what would best serve our needs. All I can add is that this has never been
an obstacle. Quite the contrary I think it is out of our differences that the
strength and purpose of our social partnership is forged. I am hopeful that
current and future programmes to review carefully focused areas of our legal
practice will again be able to dig deep into the common vision of our social
partners that is so evident this evening.

Secondly, the demonstrable successes of the CCMA in dispute resolution need
to be consolidated and extended. As you well know the CCMA is founded on three
major interventions: dispute resolution, dispute prevention and institution
building. Important work is already being done in dispute prevention and
institution building, but is seems to me that if the CCMA is to meet the
anticipated increase in its case load within the existing constraints, that
further steps will need to be taken.

The CCMA is our proprietary interest; it is our flag-ship and our guiding
light. It is however not an end in itself, but an agent of a new kind of
workplace-order that we need to expand and extend into every workplace across
the country. The challenge of propagating the idea, the idea of social
partnership that I spoke about; what the CCMA logo now defines as the
"revolution of workplace relations" in South Africa, cannot be the work of the
CCMA alone. It needs to take root in a multiplicity of institutions and
parallel processes.

Finally, we think the CCMA has now won the time and space and legitimacy to
focus frankly on the challenges of service delivery as the organisation grows
in size and volume. In this I imply no criticism of the CCMA, but comment only
on the mounting logistical challenge. The CCMA's case load has already far
exceeded the most inflated expectations. Importantly most cases are being
handled expeditiously and this is an achievement in itself, but we would
confidently anticipate that the demand on the CCMA will continue to increase,
perhaps at a slower rate.

It is certainly a long-road from the day a commissioner in Gauteng, was
reported as having charged through the corridors of the CCMA proclaiming the
first referral. Not only is the volume of cases increasing, but also their
complexity as a result of the rising body of legal precedent bearing upon the
adjudication process. I think that the growing debate about the nature of this
legal precedent presents an important opportunity for the CCMA to review its
methodology accordingly, with potentially important system benefits.

The CCMA will certainly rise to the increasing demands placed upon it and
the challenges it faces. The challenge of service delivery is more likely met
through vigorous organisation development intervention, case management review,
skills and people development, intra-organisational planning and capacity
building. In this I know that the Governing Body, Nerine and her team can count
on all our available support and guidance.

It is a big job, but the CCMA was a big idea. The idea was that every South
African working man and woman would be able to claim their industrial
citizenship in a time of need, and we do not, and cannot, disappoint them. A
former chair of the CCMA Governing Body, Ray Zondo, now the Judge President of
the Labour Court, is quoted in 1996 as saying that "if the CCMA fails, we all
fail." These were no doubt motivational sentiments at the time � which we all
share and they may well have served to inspire successive CCMA successes.

With the benefit of hindsight and on the occasion of this anniversary, I
would like to pass a motion in favour of another call: "the CCMA has not
failed, and we have not failed."

On the contrary the CCMA has now passed into adulthood, a mature and
responsible person, well capable of making its way in the world and dealing
with the challenges that will inevitably arise. Those among us, particularly
the parents and care-givers in the early years, the foreign step-parents and
the local family and friends of the CCMA, can quite rightly and justly feel a
sense of pride.

But tonight is more than a graduation ceremony for the CCMA. It is a
celebration of the triumph of a common vision that has delivered a better life
for all. I recall at the time of the promulgation of the Labour Relations Act
(LRA) quoting in parliament a business representative (Adrian Du Plessis)
saying that the LRA was the "Rolls Royce" of labour relations systems.

It was subsequently observed that it was an accurate quote, although
incomplete. What he had apparently said was that it was the Rolls Royce of
labour relations systems, but that the challenge was to drive it over a
ploughed field. I am sure I speak for all of us here this evening when I say
that we would not have chosen any other vehicle for the ride. It has proven
particularly well suited to the terrain and has delivered us with dignity and
style.

It moreover has just run-in and has a long-life left. It remains for me to
again thank those who have attended the CCMA anniversary this evening and for
all those who have played a part in our journey thus far.

You will surely all join me in congratulating the CCMA, the Governing Body,
the Registry and Commissioners on a remarkable story, a job well done, and a
historic mission well delivered for all working men and women in South
Africa.

Viva CCMA

Issued by: Department of Labour
28 November 2006
Source: Department of Labour (http://www.labour.gov.za/)