There’s no Oliphant in the room: Zuma must fire Labour Minister 

The Minister of Labour, Mildred Oliphant, has failed to attend a single sitting of Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Labour in the first 500 days of the fifth Parliament, showing her flagrant disregard for the constitution and the rule of law. The DA will today write to President Jacob Zuma imploring him to relieve Mildred Oliphant from her position as Minister of Labour with immediate effect.

Since her appointment in 2010, Minister Oliphant has not once appeared before Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Labour. Every attempt made by the DA to get her to appear before Committee has been blocked by the ANC, spearheaded by Committee Chair Lumka Yengeni. In the first 500 days of this fifth parliament, she has failed to appear before Parliament, and just last week she took it upon herself to not show up for ministerial questions to the economics cluster.

This is in direct contravention of both the Constitution and the Rules of the National Assembly, which empower Parliament to hold to account members of the Executive, which includes Cabinet Ministers.

Section 92(2) of the constitution states that “members of the Cabinet are accountable collectively and individually to Parliament for the exercise of their powers and the performance of their functions”.

Moreover Rule 201 of the National Assembly Rules states that a parliamentary portfolio committee must maintain oversight of the exercise of national executive authority falling within its portfolio.

Despite this, Minister Oliphant simply does not follow the law and outright refuses to account to Parliament, and her ANC comrades ensure this happens.

The Minister further illustrates her disdain for accountability by her non-answers to Parliamentary Questions. When she is asked straightforward questions relating to her department and her mandate, she fails to give a straightforward answer. (see examples of non-answers here, here and here).

Minister Oliphant simply refuses to be held to account, and in true ANC fashion she is not held to account by her party, her president or her cabinet.

But it is no wonder Minister Oliphant is avoiding answering to parliament, as her performance as the Labour Minister has been nothing short of disastrous

While her department’s vision is to “strive for a labour market which is conducive to investment, economic growth, employment creation and decent work”, under Minister Oliphant’s torturous reign the attainment of this vision has failed dismally.

In the 5 years she has been at the helm, South Africa has experienced an increase in unemployment and retrenchments, an increase in labour unrest and strike related violence and a rapidly degenerating Compensation Fund that fails injured workers. 

President Zuma must recognise that his decision to re-appoint Oliphant as Minister of Labour on 26 May 2014 was not a prudent one, and rectify his decision by relieving her of her duties with immediate effect.

Issued by Ian Ollis, DA Shadow Minister of Labour, 9 September 2015