LETTER: Once world-class CCMA broken by ANC

I have been interacting with a group of senior commissioners at the CCMA who have advised me that due to the enormous budget cuts, their service delivery is being heavily compromised.

The CCMA is a world-class institution, the jewel in the crown of the department of employment and labour. I would go so far as to state that it’s probably the only entity that actually works within the department. 

However, the state of the ANC government has rendered most government institutions completely useless. Even those that were working are now suffering because of the wholesale fraud and theft taking place in most parastatals. This, in turn, has created havoc with the few institutions that were providing some sort of service delivery. 

This is also the case with the CCMA. Most of the commissioners across the country have been told they can only do two to four days per month, as the budget does not allow any further expenditure. The workers of SA will suffer because of this.

Also, about five years ago, at the initiative of the senior commissioner of the CCMA, arrangements were made with the deputy sheriff’s office in every town that CCMA awards in favour of impecunious employees would be enforced by the deputy sheriffs in the various towns. 

The deputy sheriff process is a costly exercise, and most employees who have been granted awards by the CCMA are unable to afford to pay for the services of a deputy sheriff to enforce the award. The CCMA understood that this was hampering service delivery enormously. After much discussion and input from me and many others, the CCMA stepped in and made arrangements with the deputy sheriff’s office that they would foot the bill and try to recover the money from the respondent.

Unfortunately, the CCMA has, to a large degree, stopped paying the sheriffs office, and the deputy sheriff staff have been reluctant to take on further enforcement as they do not get payment. In a particular case in Cape Town, I’ve just been told that the deputy sheriff said they would not accept any more enforcement of awards from the CCMA because of the lack of payment. 

The dismissed employee would need to pay the monies upfront before the deputy sheriff would do the execution. This employee does not have the money and therefore the award given by the CCMA is meaningless.

It is indicative of the ANC government that it took a working institution and destroyed it by cutting their budget because of theft in other institutions.

Michael Bagraim
DA employment and labour spokesperson

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