Employment and Labour Budget: Committee Report

Meeting report

The Chairperson welcomed Members to the virtual meeting to consider the Committee’s Budget Vote report and asked the Committee Secretary to show the report so that Members could engage.

Committee Budget Vote Report

The Committee Secretary shared the draft budget report with the Committee for it to engage.

 The Chairperson suggested that changes made to the report should be highlighted for future meetings.

Dr M Cardo (DA) found the report did not mention steps made last year on the gazetted regulations trying to remove third party regulators.

He added that the Compensation Fund had moved to a new computer system and was not reflected in the report. The Compensation Fund was one of the worst performing entities of the Department - the report should mention this. He asked that the Department constantly update the Committee.

The Chairperson added that timeframes should accompany the updates to make it easier for the Committee to track.

Dr Cardo concurred there must be regular updates. The third party administrators must be discussed as a matter of urgency and the Committee should prioritise it.

Mr S Mdabe (ANC) said the matter was raised and there is a process unfolding in the NCOP. The Committee will receive feedback once the process is concluded.

Mr M Nontsele (ANC) supported the point raised by Mr Mdabe and said the Committee was unintentionally opening debate on a matter it had concluded. He suggested that more comments be made later since the process would allow for amendments.

Mr Mdabe suggested the contribution of Dr Cardo be added to the action plan of the report.

Ms H Denner (FF+) was concerned that some of the recommendations discussed in the previous meeting were not in the report. She gave examples of complaints from Pretoria and the Western Cape.

The Chairperson suggested that Ms Denner formulate a recommendation that encapsulated the issue generally instead of by province.

Ms C Mkhonto (EFF) believed that the Committee should deal with the observations of the report and see how they were formulated.

Dr Cardo was concerned about financial sustainability of the Compensation Fund, considering that it was paying more instead of what it was receiving. The Committee must keep track of the matter.

Ms Denner said that one of the questions she had asked the Commissioner in one of the previous meetings was not included in the report (the issue was decentralisation of administration issues and the time spent on processing documents).

The Chairperson said that Members must be mindful that the Department had not briefed the Committee on the decentralisation matter and it was only fair to wait for the briefing so that Members would have their input. The Committee should create a space to be briefed by the Department on its challenges especially on UIF issues and impact of Covid-19.

Ms Mkhonto observed that the point raised by Ms Denner was covered in the report.

Mr Nontsele agreed with Ms Mkhonto that the point was covered. The Committee might be discussing ongoing matters when the debate should be limited to the report.

He suggested the points raised by Ms Denner be added to the recommendations.

Mr Mdabe agreed and said the point should be beefed up to clarify matters for future discussion.

The Chairperson revisited the matter raised by Dr Cardo about the Compensation Fund and asked for Members to engage on the matter because when it was discussed, she was not in attendance.

Mr Nontsele said the matter was discussed, also under the Stats SA report. The loss of employment, by extension, resulted in the UIF contributions being affected. There are some sectors still trying to recover from the financial crisis. He added that this was his analysis but he did agree with what Dr Cardo highlighted.

The matter was included in the report as a recommendation.

The Chairperson suggested the Content Advisor deal with the matter and see how to fit it in the report, possibly as a footnote.

Mr Nontsele said that the Committee agreed on the importance of the matter and including it in the report would be a good decision.

The Chairperson thanked Members for their contributions and asked for the report's adoption.

The ANC moved for the adoption of the report.

The DA objected to the adoption of the report.

The FF+ objected to the adoption of the report.

The report was adopted.

Committee minutes

The Committee minutes of 2, 9, 16, and 30 March 2022 were adopted.

Meeting adjourned.