10,000 new labour inspectors may cost taxpayers R10bn over three years

Stephen Grootes speaks to Tony Healy, labour consultant at Icon Labour Consultants, about President Cyril Ramaphosa’s plan to hire 10,000 additional labour inspectors in South Africa. 

Listen to the interview in the audio player below. 

A proposal by President Cyril Ramaphosa to dramatically increase the number of labour inspectors in South Africa could cost the government about R10 billion over the next three years, according to new information released in parliament.

The figures were provided by employment and labour minister Nomakhosazana Meth in a written reply to a parliamentary question from Andile Nchabeleng of the uMkhonto weSizwe Party.

The plan, first announced during the State of the Nation Address in February, would see 10,000 additional labour inspectors hired to help enforce labour laws across the country.

With only 2%-5% of workplaces currently inspected, the expansion aims to close longstanding enforcement gaps. 

According to the Department of Employment and Labour, the current inspection system only reaches a very small portion of workplaces.

Data collected by the department over almost 20 years shows that only about 2% to 5% of workplaces in South Africa have been inspected or reached through enforcement and education programmes.

And with South Africa's large labour market, the department says it is difficult for inspectors to monitor working conditions and ensure companies follow labour laws.

Speaking to Stephen Grootes on The Money Show, Tony Healy, labour consultant at Icon Labour Consultants says there seems to be a focus by government to remedy this.

"What we're seeing now is a very significant step whereby the number of inspectors is being increased by more than five fold, as is the budget. And that will take the number of annual workplace inspections from around 300,000 to approximately 1,6 million."

- Tony Healy, labour consultant - Icon Labour Consultants

"It's going to take some time for these inspectors to be trained up in the various pieces of legislation. The whole thing of the employment of foreign nationals is a huge focus. Payment of minimum wages is a huge focus, and health and safety issues are a huge focus."

- Tony Healy, labour consultant - Icon Labour Consultants

"The intention is, as we've seen in so many areas of law, what's the point of having the legislation if there's no compliance? There's absolutely no doubt, this is a significant step, and is most certainly going to increase the monitoring and enforcement of compliance in the field of labour law..."

- Tony Healy, labour consultant - Icon Labour Consultants

Scroll to the top of the article to listen to the full interview.