Webinar: social security and health and safety in action: interventions to mitigate the effects of COVID-19

OPENING ADDRESS: T.W. Nxesi MP Minister of Employment and Labour

 · Programme Director / Moderator of this Webinar: the DG

· Deputy Minister

· Mr. Martin Kingston – Vice President of BUSA

 · Mr. Bheki Ntshalintshali – GS of COSATU and Labour Convener at NEDLAC

· Mr. Duma Gqubule – Independent Economist

 · Representatives of the social partners: labour, business and community

 · Commissioners of CF, UIF and all Senior Management of the Department and its entities

 · Members of the media

 · Ladies and gentlemen

 57,000 fellow South Africans have succumbed to Covid19. Thankfully the overwhelming majority of those infected recovered. The pandemic, and lockdowns, resulted in massive disruption to economic activity and livelihoods. 2020 experienced a 7% drop in GDP resulting in 1 million jobs lost. The First-Quarter unemployment rate for 2021 rose by 0.1% to 32.6% - though less than the 33.4% predicted by economists. The figures are stabilizing – but remain unacceptably high.

As government, working together with the social partners, we were able to mitigate some of the effects of the pandemic and lockdowns:

 · Leveraging our social security institutions, particularly the Unemployment Insurance Fund, working with business and labour to create the Covid19 Ters benefits, and to build a mass network to distribute the new benefits on an unprecedented scale.

 · At the same time we used our Health and Safety inspectors both to support social partners in Nedlac in the drafting of Covid19 Health and Safety directions, as well as to inspect and enforce the new regulations alongside existing Health and Safety regulations.

This we achieved working with reduced budgets as the pandemic and economic trends adversely impacted government revenues.

Health and Safety:

To enforce compliance, and despite Covid19 conditions, over 31,000 Health and Safety inspections were conducted for the period 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021.

The Department appointed an additional 500 OHS inspectors, a welcome addition in the battle against Covid-19 making possible a four-fold increase in the number of inspections planned for 2021/22. The target is to conduct over 96,000 OHS inspections this year.

Social Security:

The Covid-19 Ters benefit started paying out from April 2020. As at 31 March 2021, payments were made to 267,000 employers and to 5.4 million individual employees at a cost of R 58.7 billion – providing support to laid-off workers, their families and communities across the country.

The pandemic also exposed the inadequate capacity of the state on many fronts:

· Payment of COVID-19 Ters benefits by the UIF quickly became the target of fraud and corruption. We were therefore grateful to the Office of the Auditor-General for their assistance in analyzing systemic weaknesses, requiring strengthened controls, and to the SIU for investigating possible fraud and corruption.

· We were also protected against fraud and corruption by the UIF's 'Follow the Money' strategy to audit all employers that received Covid-19 Ters funding. The auditors verified payments of R16 billion and traced R228 million that was fraudulently claimed by employers. Of the 121 employers that have already been handed to the Hawks via the Presidential Fusion Centre, 16 have appeared in court.

Shortcomings:

· The pandemic also exposed the short-comings of the UIF and our social security safety net – particularly with regard to the informal sector, atypical employees and the 'gig economy'. A process we will be taking with the Nedlac Social Partners of policy and legislation review.

As we roll-out the vaccine programme, I would flag the recent agreement in Nedlac to utilize workplaces as vaccination points.

Also, we need to recognize the role of the Compensation Fund, and the licensed mutual assurance companies, which have paid for medical treatment and replacement of lost income for 12,500 claims over the last 12 months. These bodies have also set aside R1.3 billion, in terms of the COID Act to fund vaccines for some 3 million uninsured workers and COID pensioners.

Social Dialogue

The pandemic has also taught us the value of social dialogue – a core value upon which South Africa's democracy was founded. NEDLAC (National Economic, Development and Labour Council) played a critical role in uniting social partners in a common response to the pandemic - shaping the income relief responses, and the health and safety directions for workplaces. The Council's role in promoting social solidarity at this time cannot be over-emphasised.

NEDLAC also continues to facilitate social dialogue around issues of growth and jobs, monitoring implementation of the Presidential Job Summit Commitments, unblocking key structural reforms, now taken up by Operation Vulindlela led by National Treasury and the Presidency.

NEDLAC also facilitated input by the social partners into government's Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan (ERRP) announced by the President in October 2020. The plan is there to lift us out of the economic doldrums. The focus now must be on implementation.

Joined up Government:

During 2021/22, the Department's Public Employment Services (PES) will continue working with the Presidency to coordinate the Pathway Network Management programme which brings together nationally, work, learning and job opportunities for youth, made easily accessible on a digital platform. This requires the kind of 'joined up government' the President refers to. Relevant departments and agencies have already signed up to a Memorandum of Understanding. Some 436,000 youths (not in employment, education or training – 'NEETs') have already been supported, with 7 170,000 placed into various work opportunities through the wider pathway management network.

Decent work:

I believe it is critical, during these trying times, to reaffirm the mandate of the Department to protect workers and promote decent work. The labour inspectors do this through enforcing compliance with labour market policies and laws. The CCMA works closely with the Department in this respect.

 297,000 compliance inspections will be conducted during 2021/22 with a continued commitment to prosecute noncompliant employers – in relation to the Basic Conditions of Employment Act and National Minimum Wage.

To report on current policy initiatives:

· We have introduced the COIDA Amendment Bill which brings major improvements in the benefits paid, as well as:

· including domestic workers in the category of employees entitled to occupational injury benefits: and

 · new provisions for the rehabilitation of injured workers with the aim of assisting their return to the labour market.

 · Also before Parliament is the Employment Equity Act Amendment Bill, as well as ILO Convention 190: on the 'Eradication of Violence and Harassment in the Workplace' for ratification. My Department has also developed a 'Draft Code of Good Practice' which has been published for public comment. This supports government's priority to combat Gender-Based Violence.

Finally, I must thank Nedlac and the social partners for their work and commitment to promoting a united response to the pandemic and lockdowns, and supporting societal solidarity through social dialogue during these difficult times.

We will continue to strengthen our policies and labour laws which create an enabling and harmonious environment in the world of work.

Thank you.​

​