Minister turnaround on labour brokers exposes empty rhetoric of ANC

The Democratic Alliance (DA) welcomes the announcement in the labour portfolio committee before Parliament by the Minister of Labour, Membathisi Mdladlana, that labour brokers will in fact not be banned. This is a vindication of the DA's stance that labour brokers cannot and must not be banned, and that smart and targeted regulation or industry supervision would solve the problem of worker exploitation.

In contrast, Mdladlana has never uttered a single word of concrete policy suggestions - only rabid threats to ban the labour brokers. Consider the following statements which demonstrate the sort of rhetoric in which the Minister has been engaging, with regards to labour brokers, and his remarkable about-turn this month:

• "[The ANC will] ban labour brokers after it wins next year's election" - 8 December 2008

• "The reality is: labour broking is a form of human trafficking" - 22 May 2009

• "I see labour brokers as a problem, and it's a problem we must work at. We must address this problem and it's a battle that we must fight, and it's a battle that we must win, and now is the time - now or never." - 23 May 2009

• Mdladlana is "prepared to die" to stop private labour brokers from abusing workers in South Africa and private labour brokers are "messing up South Africa and now trying to mess up the rest of Africa" - 13 June 2009

• The SACB reported Mdladlana saying: ‘There's no legal basis for labour brokers to exist in the country's laws - the call by the Democratic Alliance and the Congress of the People for the regulation of labour brokers rather than a total ban of the sector is a clear indication that the parties do not have a clue of what labour broking is all about and the extent to which workers are abused because of the practice.' - 2 October 2009

• "Mdladlana has congratulated the Democratic Alliance for conducting a survey that clearly supports his intention to root out this form of human trafficking from all sectors of the economy" (Mdladlana's spokesperson Mzobanzi Jikazana) - 22 October 2009

and now...

• "Despite what the media may say, the minister has never once used the word ‘ban'. He has only said that he wants to ‘deal with' the issue of labour brokers, and if necessary will change laws to do that" (Jikazana again) - 3 March 2009

The empty rhetoric and rabid threats by Mdladlana have now been exposed for precisely what they are - a cheap trick to shore up support with Cosatu members ahead of the 2009 National Elections, even while knowing that his threats would never materialise. Subsequent to the election, and in the absence of any real action, Mdladlana merely turned up the hysteria. Now he has been pushed to the precipice, with Parliamentary deadlines for the submission of new legislation, and he has been forced into a humiliating u-turn. But this is not a humiliating day for ordinary South Africans. On the contrary, it means that 500,000 jobs will not be lost just to appease the egos of Cosatu bosses.

If Mdladlana had been serious about the abuses taking place on the periphery, then there would have been a clear and level headed debate. Instead, Mdladlana has used the dire situation of abused workers to promote the ANC, rather than address the real issues. The DA has proposed a comprehensive plan on the problem of worker abuse in the fringe of the labour broker industry. Now that it is clear that a ban is off the table, we urge that all parties concerned to give proper consideration to our proposals.

Statement issued by Andrew Louw, MP, Democratic Alliance shadow minister of labour, March 11 2010

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