Programme Director,

Deputy Minister,

Director-General,

Chairpersons of Boards and Committees,

Leadership of UIF, Compensation Fund, Productivity SA, NEDLAC, CCMA and SEE,

Distinguished guests, colleagues and honourees,

Good morning.

Today, as we gather for the Inaugural Ministerial Service Excellence Awards, we honour the outstanding work of the Department of Employment and Labour and all the entities that form our collective. This ceremony must do more than give accolades. It must signal the culture of performance, accountability and delivery that the 7th Administration demands and that our country deserves.

I announced these awards during our strategy planning session as part of our strategic priority of “improved service delivery."

Let me also start by acknowledging the excellent hosting of the G20 Summit led by His Excellency the President and the International Relations team.

We meet at a time when South Africans are calling for jobs, fairness in workplaces, a more responsive government, and a labour market that works for everyone. The Awards today remind us that public service excellence is not an aspiration, it is an obligation.

The Departmental framework, makes clear that this is a strategic initiative aimed at driving organisational performance, strengthening governance, promoting innovation and honouring long service. This is not a ceremony of celebration alone, it is a reaffirmation of our contract with the public. 

Over the past year, the portfolio has continued to deliver results across policy, enforcement, employment promotion and social protection. Allow me to highlight a few:

Strengthening Labour Market Governance

• Inspection and Enforcement Services increased targeted inspections in high-risk sectors, improving compliance with the Basic Conditions of Employment Act and Occupational Health and Safety Act. This included the hiring of over 3500 interns as part of a 20 000 target over two years. We are going to require monthly reports on how these interns are deployed, their impact and areas of improvement.

• The CCMA continued to reduce case backlogs, ensuring more timely dispute resolution.

Delivering Social Protection to Workers

• The Unemployment Insurance Fund expanded digital claims platforms and improved turnaround times.

• The Compensation Fund registered more employers and continued reforms to strengthen claims processing and employer compliance.

On both the UIF and CF ICT remains an area of improvement. I have requested a detailed report and projects plan in this regard.

Catalysing Employment Creation

• Public Employment Services supported job seekers through profiling, placement services and partnerships with employers. We have improved governance in the LAP program for implementation and are now visiting the projects as part of oversight on performance.  We must learn on creating and job preservation projects to allow us to start a new round of projects with improved performance.

• Productivity SA assisted small and medium-sized enterprises to improve competitiveness and retain jobs.

Reinforcing Governance and Accountability

• Audit outcomes across the portfolio continue to show areas of improvement and learning—an important foundation for a results-driven culture that this Awards programme seeks to entrench. We expect improved audit outcomes across the department this current financial year.

Today, we recognise these achievements to build on them.

What is Research Is Telling Us About South Africa's Labour Market?

To guide our future commitments, we must listen to evidence, not assumptions. The Department must be evidence based in diagnosing challenges and making recommendations.  We must improve our research output, including forming partnerships with other institutions.

Some of the interesting research insights we have seen this year (which are what the department is expected to lead is as its mandate is seized with Labour and Employment):

Insights from Capitec's Employment Research

Recent labour market research by Capitec highlights three critical issues:

1. Young people are increasingly participating in gig and platform work, but many lack stable income or protections.

2. Entry-level hiring is recovering, particularly in services, logistics and retail.

3. Job stability improves dramatically when workers receive skills training linked to employer demand.

These insights reinforce a simple message:

Employment programmes must be demand-led, skills-driven and digitally enabled.

Insights from Standard Bank on Small Businesses

Standard Bank's SME research shows:

• Small businesses that survive beyond two years overwhelmingly cite ease of hiring, reduced regulatory burdens, and access to markets as their top enablers.

• The fastest-growing SMEs are those that embrace technology—whether in agriculture, logistics, retail or services.

• Critically, labour regulations are not the main obstacle for most small businesses, uncertain demand and lack of support services are.

This tells us that our Department must not only regulate , we must also enable.

We must continue work to streamline compliance processes, enhance advisory services and coordinate with other departments to create an environment where small businesses can grow and employ more people.

New Labour Survey Measures by Stats SA

Stats SA's updated labour survey measures—particularly more detailed categorisation of discouraged work-seekers, gig-economy participation and informal sector dynamics to give us a sharper picture of the labour market.  We need to further engage Stats SA on these developments.

This new data helps us:

• Design better early-warning systems for economic shocks,

• Target inspections where vulnerability is highest,

• Measure transitions between unemployment, informal work and formal employment, and

• Understand the evolving nature of work in a digital and globalised economy.

Evidence like this must continue to shape our actions.

As we transition into the next year of the 7th Administration, our mandate is clear:

Build a Performance-Driven Culture Across the DEL

The Awards system we launch today is designed to:

• Reward excellence,

• Encourage innovation, and

• Motivate continuous improvement.

This is the standard to which we will hold ourselves.

We will strengthen:

• Employer-partnership programmes for youth placements,

• Skills pipelines for growth sectors,

• Support mechanisms for gig-economy and informal workers.

• We will continue to modernise inspection systems.

• We will intensify efforts in high-risk sectors such as construction, agriculture and hospitality.

• We will strengthen workplace health and safety, especially as climate-related risks rise.

Our goal is simple: accessible, reliable and efficient systems that restore public trust.

We must Strengthen SME Labour Support

• Simplifying registration and compliance processes,

• Scaling advisory and productivity services,

• Ensuring that regulation supports, rather than hinders, job creation.

Use Data and Research for Evidence-Based Policymaking

The Department will increasingly rely on:

• Stats SA's improved labour market measures,

• Private sector insights on employment patterns,

• Real-time labour demand signals from employers, and inputs from other research institutions.

This is how we build a modern labour market capable of supporting inclusive growth.

Today we also honour colleagues marking 30 and 40 years of service, and those entering retirement.

Your loyalty has built the institutional memory on which we depend. You carried the Department through transitions, reforms, challenges and achievements. On behalf of the people of South Africa: Thank you.

Let tonight be a reminder that excellence is not accidental. It is the product of discipline, leadership, teamwork and integrity.

As we celebrate the best among us, let us commit to the work that lies ahead:

• To build a labour market that offers dignity and opportunity;

• To strengthen social protection for every worker;

• To support businesses—small and large—to grow and employ;

• To transform the Department into a high-performing institution worthy of public trust.

Let us deliver on the promise of this Administration:

A South Africa that works, and provides a better life for all.

Thank you.​

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