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department of employment and labourlatest news & developments
Minister of Employment and Labour Nomakhosazana Meth
CABINET REPORT CARDS 2025

Nomakhosazana Meth: Employment and Labour

SCORE: E Despite her efforts to make the department a more proactive facilitator of job creation, Meth still faces an unemployment rate above 30% at the end of 2025. The…

  • MG Reporter
1 min read
Around the world, women continue to face structural barriers in accessing justice systems that are often expensive, complex, slow and, at times, retraumatising
ARTICLE

Business Unity SA takes labour department to court over employment equity targets

The organisation has criticised the way the Act was devised and says it risks damaging the economy

  • Aarti Bhana
3 min read
AFFIRMATIVE ACTION

Employers get more responsibilities amid equity amendments

Employers need to make sure they are informed about the new regulations, which fall under the Employment Equity Act, and are compliant

  • Dhevarsha Ramjettan, Kanyiso Kezile & Mufaro Sambaza
5 min read
Employers and domestic workers can contribute a national domestic workers’ pension fund operated through mobile-based platforms for easy registration and tracking contributions. (File photo)
COST OF LIVING

Union demands pension fund for domestic workers

About 850 000 people are employed as domestic workers in South Africa, contributing to 5.2% of the country’s total employment

  • Umamah Bakharia
4 min read
Draft regulations for hazardous chemical agents issued by the government affect the fundamental rights of farmworkers and other farm dwellers, who are routinely exposed to high levels of toxic pesticides, particularly on wine and fruit farms. (Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
AFRICAN CENTRE FOR BIODIVERSITY

Draft regulations on hazardous chemical agents leave farmworkers at risk

South Africa must exit pesticide treadmill, civil society groups say This content is restricted to registered users and subscribers. Get Your Free Account The Mail & Guardian is…

  • Sheree Bega
1 min read
COMMUNITY ECD CENTRES

Young people want to work, not wait

A skilled, educated, economically supported youth is the bedrock of a strong democracy

  • NYDA
6 min read
Rescue teams on site as operations continue at 75 Victoria Street, George (George municipality)
CIBD

Preliminary findings show compliance gap led to George building collapse

The death toll in the George building collapse has reached 33 and 19 people are still missing This content is restricted to registered users and subscribers. Get Your Free…

  • Umamah Bakharia
1 min read
Major JSE–listed clothing retailers have rejected the department of employment and labour concerns that they are “unwittingly” supporting “inhumane and sweatshop conditions” in the clothing and textile sector in KwaZulu-Natal, insisting that they adhere to regulations. (Photo by: Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
SOUTH AFRICAN CLOTHING AND TEXTILE WORKERS UNION

JSE-listed clothing retailers want labour department to shut down sweatshops

The South African Clothing and Textile Workers Union has said people are working from 10 to 16 hours a day, seven days a week for as little as R120 to R200 a week

  • Lyse Comins
6 min read
Trucks were torched on the N2, N3 and N4 highways last week.
DEPARTMENT OF EMPLOYMENT AND LABOUR

Truck drivers lament government’s slow moves to fix sector

The transport department says it is working on an 11-point plan to clean up the logistics industry and force businesses to comply with laws

  • Lyse Comins
4 min read
Fathers argue that section 25 to 27 of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act is discriminatory because the leave is too little for them to participate in childcare. (Photo by Maud Dupuy / Hans Lucas / Hans Lucas via AFP)
ALTRON

Limpopo couple lodges civil action with labour department for equal parenting leave and benefits

Fathers argue that section 25 to 27 of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act is discriminatory because the leave is too little for them to participate in childcare

  • Mandisa Ndlovu
3 min read
Is joblessness a result of a lack of skills or low growth, or is low growth a result of lack of skills?
CRITICAL SKILLS LIST

Do we know what we are doing with the jobs problem?

Is joblessness a result of a lack of skills or low growth, or is low growth a result of lack of skills? Government is not speaking with one voice

  • Xhanti Payi
6 min read
Two investigations into separate explosions at the Rheinmetall Denel Munition depot near Macassar continue (RODGER BOSCH/AFP via Getty Images)
COMMUNITY SAFETY

Denel’s plant near Macassar stays put, despite residents’ concerns

Two investigations into separate explosions at the Rheinmetall Denel Munition depot near Macassar continue

  • Eunice Masson
2 min read
This picture taken on 3 September 2018 shows emergency vehicles outside the Rheinmetall Denel munitions facility in Macassar, about 45km from the centre of Cape Town, after an explosion at the facility killed at least 8 people and injured more. (RODGER BOSCH/AFP via Getty Images)
DEMOCRATIC ALLIANCE

‘It is no longer safe for Denel to be based in Macassar’

Calls to end production at Rheinmetall Denel Munition after yet another blast rocks the Somerset West area, the fifth since 2018

  • Eunice Masson
4 min read
Employers affected by the recent unrest in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal will be able to apply for support through the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) as soon as next week. (Photo by MARCO LONGARI / AFP)
ZUMAUNREST

Companies affected by unrest can apply for support as soon as next week

Labour Minister Thulas Nxesi urges employers to be honest when applying for help

  • Eunice Masson
2 min read
Employment and Labour Minister Thulas Nxesi.
AUDITOR GENERAL

Nxesi says employment and labour department must ‘talk less’ and do more

The minister and his management team appeared before parliament after another scathing auditor general report was tabled

  • Eunice Masson
4 min read
A scaled-down labour inspectorate will leave vulnerable workers at the mercy of ‘unscrupulous employers’
AGGY MOILOA

Budget cuts give bad bosses a break

A scaled-down labour inspectorate will leave vulnerable workers at the mercy of ‘unscrupulous employers’

  • Sarah Smit
3 min read
The rights of workers to go on strike have been seriously eroded in the past six years.(David Harrison/M&G)
COMMISSION FOR CONCILIATION MEDIATION AND ARBITRATION

Workers rights rolled back as Covid-19 strikes

The economic crisis triggered by the pandemic has laid bare longstanding deficiencies in labour rights around the world

  • Sarah Smit
3 min read