22 Sep 2013

The Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs is concerned about the proliferation of churches in the country.

Addressing a kgotla meeting in Palapye on September 19, Minister Edwin Batshu said his ministry was contemplating to regulate registration of churches, noting that a total number of 1 744 churches had been registered. Mr Batshu said the current requirement for registration of a church was 10 members.

However, he said his ministry was contemplating to increase this number to 250, something that would have to come before Parliament to make amendments. Mr Batshu was responding to Palapye residents’ concern about increasing numbers of churches in Palapye, of which Kgosi Masego Olebile called for a need to regulate.

Furthermore, Mr Batshu said he was aware of congestion at the births and deaths registration office in Palapye, which he attributed to poor network. He said some interventions were made to increase the band width, but the problem still persisted. However, he said his ministry was working round the clock to address the problem.

Touching on labour relations, Mr Batshu said the amendment of the Trade and Dispute Act would help empower labour officers to deal with labour issues, saying that the law did not give them an allowance to take employers and employees to task for failure to attend mediation meetings. He said giving labour officers powers would help minimise cases registered at the Industrial Court.

For his part, MP for Palapye, Mr Moiseraele Goya informed Mr Batshu that issues of work relations between the employer and employee were rife in Palapye due to development projects tin the area. He said employers gave employees monthly contracts so that it would be easy for them to dismiss employees when they so wished.

As a result he called for the amendment of the Employment Act, saying that the practice was unfair as it disadvantaged employees. He said it was high time the government introduced a living wage to replace the minimum wage to enable employees to lead better lives. In addition, Mr Goya called for the increase in the number of industrial courts so that people in Palapye could easily access the service they offered. ENDS