The key and broad Labour Relations Amendment Bill and Employment Laws Amendment Bills that were unveiled for public comment in the beginning of the year can be expected to be promulgated in 2028, so said Department of Employment and Labour Director: Collective Bargaining, Stephen Rathai.

He said following the public comments eliciting process that closed in February the Department was engaged in the refinement of inputs. He said depending on the scale and extent of inputs the bills could still be resent back to Nedlac, the tripartite negotiating organisation for finalisation.

Rathai is expecting the bills to be sent to Nedlac after July 2026. He was speaking during the start of employment equity (EE) workshops/roadshows that started today (21 July 2026) in Kimberley, Northern Cape at Horseshoe Inn. He was presenting on the on labour law amendments – and their bearing on equity in the labour market.

The 2026 workshops will focus on:

• Presentation on 2025 Provincial EE status (26^th CEE Annual Report) and presentation on the Draft Amended Code of Good Practice on the preparation, implementation and monitoring of the EE Plan;
• Presentation on practical demonstration of how to utilise the EE System online facilities to capture EE Reports and request EE Certificate of Compliance;
• Presentation on sharing of all types of unfair discrimination cases by the CCMA; and
• Presentation on labour law amendments – Labour Relations Act (LRA), Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA), Employment Equity Act (EEA), National Minimum Wage Act (NMWA)

This year's EE workshops/roadshows are held under the theme: “Bridging the Equity Gap Through Diversity & Inclusion".   

The Nedlac Labour Law Reform negotiation process took three years to complete. The reform process involved amending the Labour Relations Act, Basic Conditions of Employment Act, National Minimum Wage Act, and Employment Equity Act.

Rathai said once the consolidation of comments is finalised the bills will be sent back to Nedlac for finalisation before these are sent to State Law Advisers for assessment. He said once the bills have been subjected to Constitutional tests these will be sent to the two houses of Parliament and the legislatures may also want to conduct their own public engagements.

Meanwhile, the EE national workshops will end in September 2026.  

The EE workshops are targeted at Employers or Heads of organisations, employees and trade unions, Assigned Senior EE Managers, Consultative EE forum members, Human Resource Managers and Practitioners, Academics, Civil society, and interested stakeholders.

NB: All the workshops will be held from 09:00 to 16:00 and members of the media are invited.

For media inquiries, please contact:

Teboho Thejane

Departmental Spokesperson

082 697 0694/ teboho.thejane@labour.gov.za

-ENDS-

Issued by: Department of Employment and Labour

​ 

​​