CCMA Budget Cuts Lead to Workers Dismay

The Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) was established in terms of the Labour Relations Act of 1995 as a dispute resolution mechanism between South African employers and employees. Its establishment signalled a historic shift in labour relations in the country, from an adversarial, conflict-ridden system to one based on greater co-operation and conciliation.

There are concerns that the drastic budget cuts announced towards the end of last year in respect of this year will jeopardise the CCMA’s statutory mandate of enforcing the constitutional rights of South African workers and hamper their access to justice.

The CCMA announced a dramatic cut of approximately R600 million in its budget for this year’s fiscal. This represents a significant reduction from the R978 million it received from central government during the 2019/20 financial year, which, initially, resulted in an operating budget of +/- R400 million for 2021. This, however, is set to be halved to R200-million at the beginning of next month, the beginning of the CCMA’s new financial year. The cuts are in line with the government’s controversial austerity measures aimed at reducing public debt, currently sitting at 80% of GDP.

The drastic budget cuts mean the CCMA is clearly no longer be able to operate at full capacity. The CCMA has, since 1 December 2020, ceased using part-time commissioners, and has, since the beginning of the year, been functioning only with full-time commissioners. According to the CCMA’s annual performance plan for the 2020/21 financial year, there were 173 full-time commissioners and an estimated 565 part-time commissioners resolving disputes at the CCMA at the end of last year.

Exacerbating the situation is the fact that the CCMA has closed its walk-in facilities at its offices around the country due to Covid -19 health and safety protocols. Disgruntled workers are now having to submit their dispute referrals online, however, many do not have access to the internet and data is expensive. Adding to their frustrations is the fact that workers are having to wait inordinately long periods of time before having their cases heard at the CCMA due to there being fewer commissioners available to handle their disputes. Some workers also complain that commissioners do not always act in their best interest.

Covid-19 and the dire financial state of the CCMA have left workers vulnerable to unfair dismissals and con artists who try to exploit them. Some NGOs are threatening litigation to force the government to reinstate funding for the CCMA whilst other workers’ forums and organisations have launched the ‘Open CCMA Campaign’ and have held demonstrations outside CCMA offices around the country. In a joint statement, the campaign said “non-unionised workers occupying the least secure and lowest-paying jobs who depend on the CCMA for their workplace rights will be the most affected”.

It called the decision to cut the CCMA’s funds another “attack on the working class under the pandemic” and said this was happening while “the government offers big businesses billions of rand in relief and security”, adding insult to injury. “Together,” it said, “these moves ultimately serve to open new avenues for private wealth accumulation and deepen capital’s cheap labour regime.”

Bheki Ntshalintshali, secretary general of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), and a CCMA board member said the decision to close the CCMA’s doors was “necessitated by Covid-19. The CCMA has indicated to us the number of people they’ve lost, and the number of people infected.”

Another board member, National Council of Trade Unions (Nactu) secretary general Narius Moloto, also defended the CCMA’s new way of working. “We’d have been regarded as irresponsible if we see people being infected and dying. As trade unions we have to protect the workers. There may be delays in dealing with cases, but we will make sure that the rights of workers to access the CCMA is not taken away. We just changed the way in which cases are being referred.”

Meanwhile, CCMA’s management says it is currently assessing exactly how the budget cuts will impact its operations from next month onwards.

We await the outcome of this assessment with eager anticipation.

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