All South African employers are required to abide by the directives issued by South Africa’s occupational health and safety act, which requires that employers adhere to stringent Covid-19 health and safety protocols. Failure to do so could result in a business effectively being shut down, and or being taken to labor court. Most importantly, it could lead to an even higher Covid- 19 infection rate.
Workplaces are required to have a health and safety committee tasked with developing a plan outlining Covid-19 health protocols such as social distancing, mask wearing, sanitizing and ensuring that government guidelines are adhered to.
Last month, The National Planning Committee also warned that workplace compliance with Covid-19 protocols was generally extremely poor and that it needed to be improved. Speaking to Business Insider SA, acting labor department spokesperson Musa Zondi said while the department has had to close down many governments offices because of failure to adhere to the rules, the biggest non-compliers were mostly private sector companies.
Workers and the general public can lay complaints against companies who do not adhere to Covid-19 health rules with inspectors of the department of labor, or at labor centers around the country.
For minor transgressions, companies will be given an improvement notice which Zondi defines as a warning to fix what is defective within the workplace. The improvement notice flags issues within a workplace that have the potential to be dangerous, such as a lack of mask wearing.
If that is not adhered to, a prohibition notice is given. “A prohibition notice really shuts you down, you can’t do anything until those specific areas have been sorted out,” Zondi said.
If a business still does not comply, a contravention notice is issued, and the business owner appears before a labor court.
“After a certain period, we then go back to check whether those things that we raised have been sorted out. If not, then we take you straight to the labour court and they will make the determination as they see fit,” said Zondi.
For complaints, chief inspector Tibor Szana can be reached on Tibor.Szana@labour.gov.za, alternatively on 012 3094389. Provincial chief inspectors in each province can be reached on the following contacts.
Eastern Cape
Provincial Chief Inspector: Adv. Lucky Mkhonto
Tel: 043 701 3287/ 043 701 3279 Email: Lucky.Mkhonto@labour.gov.za
Free State
Provincial Chief Inspector: Mr Manelisi Luxande
Tel: 051 505 6325 Email: Manelisi.Luxande@labour.gov.za
Gauteng
Adv. Michael Msiza
Tel: 012 309 5110 Email: Michael.Msiza@labour.gov.za
KwaZulu-Natal
Edward Khambula
Tel: 031 366 2201/ 031 366 2203 Email: Edward.Khambula@labour.gov.za
Limpopo
Phaswane Tladi
Tel: 015 290 1613 Email: Phaswane.Tladi@labour.gov.za
Mpumalanga
Nonyaniso Njwambe
Tel: 013 655 8775 Email: Nonyaniso.Njwambe@labour.gov.za
North West
Boikie Mampuru
Tel: 018 387 8104 Email: Boikie.Mampuru@labour.gov.za
Northern Cape
Ivan Vass
Tel: 053 838 1502 Email: Ivan.Vass@labour.gov.za
Western Cape
David Esau
Tel: 021 441 8088/ 021 441 8208 Email: David.Esau@labour.gov.za
