Mhlalingaphambili, Mphathiswa weSebe, Malungu eNdlu yoWiso- mthetho kunye nabasebenzi bakaTat'uMdladlana, ngonyaka ka-1955 kwinyanga yeSilimela ngomhla wama-26, iingongoma ekwakugqitywe ukuba kuza kugaywa inkxaso phantsi kwazo ngumbutho omkhulu wesizwe omdala, i-ANC, ngongoma ezo ezathi zafumama inkxaso nakuTata - ongutat' omkhulu kwabanye - uNelson Rolihlahla Mandela, yokuba uyazinikezela ekuqhubeni nasekwenzeni olo gayo luye phambili, zathi zazala inkomfa yabantu; eyeyokwenene yona inkomfa yabantu. (Translation of isiXhosa paragraph follows.)
[Mr E NYEKEMBA: Chairperson, Minister of the department, Members of the National Assembly and officials in the department of Mr Mdladlana, on 26 June 1955, the points which we agreed to use in a campaign for the ANC, the old national organisation, and points which were also supported by Mr Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela - who is a grandfather to others -that he commits himself to taking the campaign forward, gave birth to the people's congress; the true people's congress.]
The conference of the people that I'm speaking about, the real conference, came up with 10 points that the ANC during that time and after it had won liberation would focus on. One of the points I will speak to is work and security, point number seven in the Freedom Charter.
I will link this point number seven of the Freedom Charter with one of the public utilities, which is the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration, CCMA. This is because the purpose of the CCMA is to make sure that there is social justice and economic development as a result of dispute management and resolutions that are favourable. This public entity has been established in terms of section 112 of the Labour Relations Act, emanating from section 23 of the Constitution that deals with labour relations.
I am referring to these two sections, one from the Constitution and one from the Labour Relations Act, and linking them with the volume of work which some colleagues spoke about earlier - the challenges that this public entity is faced with. If we look at all labour legislation, most things that do not go right are referred to this institution. There is a volume of cases that the CCMA is looking at, and there are still more to come.
With regard to this institution, it has been indicated that there was a programme of training for lay-offs which started last year in September. It is this institution that has to facilitate the process of trying to avoid job losses, but this can only happen if there is agreement between the employer and the trade unions. It is my view, Minister, that this has to be looked at again in order to make sure that the CCMA, as a public entity, does contribute the maximum in trying to avoid job losses. There are certain points that were raised here. I'm not taking the position that the Minister has to take at the end, but I think it is important to speak to some of the issues that were raised.
Referring to the DA in particular, they made reference to labour broking being an industry. How can somebody be called an industry who does not have the means of production, who does not employ directly, but facilitates placement for a well-established employer? This can't be. [Interjections.]
With regard to Cope's comparison of the Labour Court with the work of the CCMA, these are two different tribunals. The Labour Court belongs to the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development and the CCMA falls within the ambit of the Department of Labour. These are two different things, but I think it is important to welcome the point if you are saying that as Parliament we need to look at how the labour courts do fast-track the cases that are referred to them by the CCMA. Regarding the point raised by uTat' uNdlovu [Mr Ndlovu] ...
... uthethe kamnandi ekuqaleni kodwa wabuya wajika wathi: "Hayi makubekho indlela emabasebenze ngayo aba bantu", ndalahleka. Kuqala uthe: "Makusetyenzwe ngabo bemke", wabuya wathi: "Hayi, makubekho umgaqo wendlela yokuziphatha". (Translation of isiXhosa paragraph follows.)
[... who spoke well at the beginning, but he also said: "No, there must be a way of governing the work of these people". I was lost. At the beginning you said: "Something must be done to kick them out", and you also said: "No, there must be a code of conduct".]