25 Nov 2015

The minister of Labour and Home affairs Mr Edwin Batshu says he is aware that the Labour officers in Latlhakeng District Labour Office do not have protective clothing.

Answering a question in Parliament, Minister Batshu said protective clothing was supplied in 2010 to labour inspectors

He said thereafter two labour inspectors resigned in May 2014 and July 2015. Mr Batshu noted that his ministry is in the process of deploying two labour inspectors to the Letlhakeng labour office in January 2016.

In the meantime, Mr Batshu said two labour officers who are performing the meditation function will be supplied with protective clothing by 27 November 2015, to enable them to carry out labour inspection.
Mr Batshu also highlited that in the past 18 months, four labour inspections have been conducted in the mines out of  17 companies identified for labour inspection.

Minister Batshu further noted that the trend in the number of trade disputes reported has been consistent in the past 18 months. He mentioned that Letlhakeng district labour office registered 681 labour disputes which translate to an average of 38 per cent cases per month.

He stated that of 170 cases, 25 per cent of these disputes were from companies in the mines.

Mr Batshu said out of these 170 cases, 76 cases were settled, 47 referred to industrial court, 18 did not turn up for meditation, 17 were dismissed, six withdrawn, four were default awards and two are still pending.

He said that majority of these disputes related to terminal benefits to be paid at the end of shutdown projects.

Minister Batshu was answering a question  from the Member of Parliament for Boteti East Mr Lelatisitswe Sethomo who  had wanted to know if the minister was aware that the labour office in Letlhakane has not been conducting mine inspections for the past 18 months due to unavailability of protective clothing. Ends