Following media reports on the alleged mistreatment of employees at a farming equipment manufacturing company, the Department of Labour in the North West Province unleashed a team of inspectors to investigate the allegations at the company’s facility in Lichtenburg.
The investigations were based on whether there was compliance in Unemployment Insurance Act (UIA); Unemployment Insurance Contributions Act (UICA); Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHS); Compensation of Injuries and Diseases Act (COIDA); and Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA).
The investigations revealed that the employer was not compliant in some of the labour laws and the following issues were flagged:
- Employer’s declarations were not up to date for all employees and the employer is not complying with section 56(3) of UI Act,
- The employer has appointed foremen/supervisors as health and safety representatives which is a contravention of the General Administration Regulation, section 6(4) of OHS Act. This Acts dictates that proper consultation with employee representatives and unions need to be done which in this case did not happen,
- Chemical facilities were not bunded and the amount contained did not reflect on the outside of the store,
- Chemical facilities were not assessed to be declared “hazardous locations”,
- Employees working with or around the zinc baths have not undergone medical surveillance, and
- Personnel that works standing was not supplied with underfoot protections.
With regard to COID Act, it was also found that the company had initially registered directly with Compensation Fund but later changed to Rand Mutual Association hence they were not inspected by the Department. The Department has taken its obligation to honour claims for incidents that happened when the company was still registered with the Compensation Fund (from 2009 to 2015).
The Compensation Fund has since received several claims of which five are fatal claims which were accepted as per the CF procedures and two were finalised and three are still being investigated. Other claims received include four permanent disability-two were paid out and the remaining two await supporting information-; thumb amputation, torn ligaments; back, head, eye and finger injuries.
The Compensation Fund is currently engaging the employer to finalise the other outstanding cases that are awaiting supporting documents.
A written undertaking was secured with the employer to comply with section 56 (3) of UI Act. A follow up visit will be done by the Department to ensure there is full compliance with the labour laws.
Since some of the employees are members of trade unions and the company is registered with the Metal and Engineering Industries Bargaining Council, all the parties will be informed regarding the findings and be advised to act accordingly.
According to the North West Provincial Chief Inspector, Mr Boikie Mampuru, it is part of their mandate to ensure that law enforcement is carried over where needed.
“It is our responsibility to make sure that companies comply with all the labour legislations, hence we did not hesitate to act on the media reports to get information that could help in this situation from both sides of the employee and the employer. We will continue to monitor this situation, and this should also serve as a warning to other companies that the department will not spare them should it find that they do not comply with any of the labour laws”, he concluded.
Enquiries:
Botsang Huma
Provincial Communication Officer
Department of Labour: North West
Cell: 083 951 1068
Teboho Thejane
Departmental Spokesperson
Cell: 082 697 0694
