PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE : Employment Opportunities & Skills Development for Women & People with Disabilities 23 May 2012, 09h30 Presented by the Department of Labour

TABLE OF CONTENTS Background/ Introduction Programmes benefiting women and persons with disabilities Budgetary allocations Collaborations Empowerment of women and persons with disabilities Policy provisions Child labour initiatives Capacity Building/ Achievements Challenges faced by DOL Future plans

BACKGROUND The Subsidy Scheme has a long history from before 1994 in DoL 10 Placement officials are currently subsidized at DeafSA (deaf), SANCB (blind), NCPPDSA (physically disabled). Subsidy amounts to entry level salary of Grade 2 clerk in Public Service The placement officials have special knowledge and networks in the disability field and can therefore service people with disabilities better.

HISTORY The Sheltered Employment Factories (SEF) were established more than 65 years ago to provide employment opportunities for people with disabilities who were unable to hold down employment in the open labour market due to the nature of their afflictions. Currently around 97% of the workers in our factories fit this profile. The SEF now has 12 factories across South Africa operating in 7 of the 9 provinces, with only Mpumalanga and Limpopo without a facility. Factories are located in Bloemfontein, Cape Town, Durban, East London, Johannesburg, Kimberly, Pietermaritzburg, Port Elizabeth, Potchefstroom and Pretoria. Collectively they employ some 1050 disabled people supported by 120 administration, management and technical staff. With current premises – land, buildings and equipment - there is the potential to provide meaningful work opportunities for more than handicapped people.

Placement in Employment Opportunities during the 2010/11 Financial Year Provincial placements according to disability GPLimKZNWCECFSMpuTOTAL Visually Impaired Hearing Impaired Physical Disabiliti es TOTAL Gauteng Province placed the most work-seekers with disabilities in employment opportunities namely 43,4% followed by the Western Cape with 18,5%.

Provincial placements according to gender GPLimKZNWCECFSMpuTOTAL Male Female TOTAL Males placed in placement opportunities – 55% Females placed in placement opportunities – 45%

Budgetary allocations Total subsidy for the 2010/11 financial year: R Total transfer during the 2010/11 financial year: R

Placement in Employment Opportunities during the 2011/12 Financial Year Provincial placements according to disability GPLimKZNWCECFSMpuTOTAL Visually Impaired Hearing Impaired Physical Disabilities TOTAL KZN placed the most work-seekers with disabilities namely 28.75% in employment opportunities followed by the Western Cape with 23.75%. The post of the Placement Official at the SANCB in Pretoria has been vacant for a long time as well as one of the posts under the auspices of DeafSA.

Provincial Placements according to gender GPLimKZNWCECFSMpuTOTAL Male Female TOTAL Males placed in placement opportunities – 53% Females placed in placement opportunities – 47%

Budgetary allocations Total subsidy for the 2011/12 financial year: R Total transfer during the 2011/12 financial year: R

Expenditure recorded for 2011/12 and MTEF allocations as per ENE

Employment Creation through the SEF We have drafted various business proposals to organisations such as the W&R SETA, the FP&M SETA to propose the use of the Sheltered Employment resources and manufacturing background to help create jobs for not only people with disabilities, but for the youth as well. We will be piloting a project with Basic Education in 3 Provinces to provide gainful employment to young people, provide them with skills and business management.

Our vision is that of establishing a national network of factories and factory outlets that contribute to the economic empowerment of people with disabilities (including ex- combatants) and that support metropolitan, rural and local community organizations and enterprises. Where disabled people are to contribute to, and be integrated into the nation’s economy.

Gender Profiles

Disability Profiles

Initiatives done by the Department to deal with child labour. Children are the future of the country and there are various factors hindering the welfare and development of our children. One such factor is the involvement of children in the worst forms of child labour and with work that is harmful to their development. Government committed itself to the elimination of the worst forms of child labour and has adopted a holistic approach to curb this problem. The Child Labour Programme of Action (CLPA) is the roadmap to the prevention, reduction and eventual elimination of child labour. The CLPA serves to focus and guide the efforts of government departments and civil society groups, including business organisations, labour federations and organisations serving the interest of children.

Key elements of the CLPA are: (a)Targeting the implementation of government and other stakeholders’ programmes and policies on poverty, employment, labour and social matters more effectively in areas where the work children do has serious negative effects on them; (b)Promoting new legislative measures against worst forms of Child labour. (c)Strengthening of national capacity to enforce legislative measures; (d)Increasing public awareness and social mobilization against worst forms of child labour.

There has been significant expansion of measures to relieve household poverty which is the main driver of child labour. Legislation to address child labour has been strengthened substantially. The Children’s Act as amended in 2007 deals explicitly with child trafficking, children used by adults to commit crime (CUBAC) and the commercial sexual exploitation of children. It also reinforces the provisions on forced labour in the Basic Conditions of Employment Act. DOL further published regulations to protect the health and safety of child workers at work under both the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, 1997 and the Occupational Health and Safety Act, 1993.

The second phase of the CLPA, which was adopted by Cabinet on the 4th of February 2009 covers the financial years 2008/09 to 2012/13 and represents South Africa's proposed actions enabling it to reach the 2015 target for eradication of the worst forms of child labour (WFCL). The CLPA identifies a wide range of activities falling within the mandates of a wide range of government departments and agencies. For each activity, the CLPA identifies the lead department as well as other departments and agencies, including non-governmental ones, which would be involved.

Most of the activities making up the CLPA already form part of government policy. In these cases the programme confirms that these activities help to address the problems of child labour. Where appropriate, it proposes that implementation be strengthened. The implementation of the CLPA is coordinated by the Implementation Committee (IC) with representative from government departments, organised business and labour and civil society. The Department of Labour formed Child Labour Inter-sectoral Group (CLIG), a body consisting of key government departments, non-governmental organisations and employers’ and employees’ organisations in all the Provinces and attend bi-monthly meetings.

The purpose at these meetings will be: To ensure synergy in the implementation of CLPA and other government initiatives To facilitate the process of eliminating the most hazardous forms of child labour, with the long term goal of eliminating all forms of child labour Co-ordinate policies and programmes in working towards eliminating child labour Create awareness and ensure the mainstreaming of children’s issues specifically CLPA matters in the broader awareness creation strategies of these structures Monitor progress on the elimination of child labour

In May 2010 South Africa became a signatory to the International Labour Organisations’ (ILO) Roadmap towards the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour by 2016 and DOL committed itself to host a national child labour day on and annual basis to highlight child labour issues and to popularize the Roadmap towards the elimination of the worst forms of child labour by 2016 The first Child Labour Day attended by various government departments, the ILO, organised labour, organised business, civil society and children was held on the 4th of April 2011.

23 DEPARTMENT OF LABOUR GENDER TRANSFORMATION IN THE WORKPLACE

Women employed at SMS level as at 31 March 2012 Prov.No of posts /Staff complimentSenior Posts in the Department Actual number of women at SMS level % Achieved EC710 (678)1 0 FS440 (417) 11 GP1388 (1275) 41 KZN997 (914) 21 LP445 (422) 10 MP448 (420) 11 NC279 (268) 11 NW387 (366) 10 WC670 (616) 20 UIF455 (421) 126 CF711 (683) 147 HQ681 (577) 4213 Total7 611 (7 057)8231 Achieved 37.8% women at SMS level against 34% target Total Staff Compliment Total Number of Women in the Establishment Total % of Women in the Establishment

Policy Provisions for reasonable accommodation of persons with disabilities The Department of Labour implements the reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities guided by the Public Service handbook and its internal Integrated Policy on Gender, Disability and Youth; and also the Occupational Health, Safety and Environment Policy. The departmental policy makes provision for reasonable accommodation in line with the GDY objectives. The policy provisions address the following forms of reasonable accommodation: Making the departmental buildings to be physically accessible to people with different types of disabilities, Re-assigning non-essential tasks elsewhere Modification or adjustment to a job or to the working environment that will enable a person with disabilities to function Provision of Employee Health and Wellness Interventions

Capacity-building or empowerment Programmes targeting women The Department’s HRD Strategy is capturing this capacity-building or empowerment programme. Furthermore, the Department is currently working on sourcing services for implementation of Accelerated Development Programme (ADP) targeting women and people with disabilities.

27 ACHIEVEMENTS ON THE 8 PRINCIPLE PLAN The Department of Labour has institutionalized gender transformation under Employment Equity Plan and the Strategic Plan The Department has a policy on Gender, Youth and Disability (GDY) that was approved in This policy has the following objectives:- – To ensure that GDY issues are mainstreamed in all Departmental policies. – To promote the culture of recognising the importance of GDY considerations in all management decisions in the Department. – To ensure that all management employment practices and decisions linked thereto are sensitive to GDY.

28 ACHIEVEMENTS ON THE 8 PRINCIPLE PLAN – To facilitate aligned and integrated reporting of the Department’s contribution to the broad economy on GDY. – To ensure that the Presidency and Portfolio Committee in Parliament are informed about the performance of all relevant public entities linked to the Department of Labour. – To encourage uniform reporting by all Public Entities linked to the Department of Labour. – To ensure that the achievements of GDY objectives and mandates are monitored internally and externally. – To ensure that Human resources planning supports GDY objectives.

29 ACHIEVEMENTS ON THE 8 PRINCIPLE PLAN As part of our EE plan objectives, Reasonable Accommodation for people with disabilities is reported on in the National Employment Equity Consultative Forum that meets quarterly. The Department is the custodian of the Employment Equity Act which seeks to eradicate any racial and gender divides and also to redress the imbalances of the past. We are also the custodian of the Technical Assistance Guidelines on the Employment of People with Disabilities that is intended to assist with the practical implementation of aspects of the Act relating to the employment of people with disabilities in the workplace. The DoL has achieved and exceeded the national target of 2% for people with disabilities by 0.6% as 2.6% (184) are currently employed in the Department. However, they are concentrated at the lower salary levels.

Gender transformation measures are implemented, based on the level of delegated responsibility The Recruitment and Selection policy as well as the Employment Equity Plan make it compulsory and require that Employment Equity Representatitives be part of the shortlisting and interview processes. In this regard, the Representatives observe and monitor whether managers/supervisors are shortlisting with the gender issues in mind as outlined in the Employment Equity Plan. Furthermore, the Director- General has appointed, in writing, the Chief Director: Human Resources Management at Head Office to be the Chairperson of the National Employment Equity Consultative Forum (NEECFs) which monitors gender transformation under the Employment Equity Plan.

31 IMPLEMENTATION OF GENDER TRANSFORMATION MEASURES (RESPONSIBILITY) As required by the EE Act Section 24, the Department has appointed formally all the Senior Manager to take responsibility for the monitoring and implementation of the EE plan. And has further assigned the Chief Director: Human Resources Management as the Employment Equity Manager for the Department who then chairs the National Employment Equity Consultative Forum and Reports to the Director General on progress. All Senior Managers are assessed on Employment Equity in their CMC’S (PA)

32 SYSTEM OF TRACKING WOMEN & WOMEN WITH DISABILITIES AT SMS LEVELS On a monthly basis representivity profiles are drawn from PERSAL for the whole Department and are presented in the National Employment Equity Forum and also in Local Employment Equity Forums to monitor progress and recommend appropriate action where progress is slow. As part of the Department’s strategy, the targets for Women and also disability is specified and is translated into policy (to inform recruitment processes) and also into the EE Plan.

33 CAPACITY -BUILDING OR EMPOWERMENT PROGRAMMES TO ADVANCE WOMEN TO SMS POSITIONS As part of the Department’s EE Plan, it has been identified that there is lack of training programs that are targeted at advancing designated groups (women) and has tasked Director responsible for Training and Development to develop programs that will ensure advancement of designated groups and the various Senior Managers are also tasked to make sure that there is sufficient budget for this purpose. A policy on Career Management & Retention is also under review to ensure that the people from designated groups are retained. This policy will also be explicit in talking to issues of succession planning and people with disabilities. In the meantime the Department has developed a draft guidelines on succession planning and after discussion with all stakeholders it will be implemented.

34 CHALLENGES THAT THE DEPARTMENT HAS FACED The Department put through a bid to National Treasury to fund the establishment of a Gender Unit and it was rejected. In the absence of this unit it is difficult to make sure that all gender matters are mainstreamed into Departmental plans. The Department still is working towards addressing the challenge of reaching the 50% women representation at SMS level.

35 FUTURE PLANS The Department of Labour has been strongly working towards redressing gender imbalances (among other discriminatory factors) in the workplace, particularly at senior management level where women have entered into positions that were historically regarded as a male domain. The Department of Labour will play a pivotal role in conducting research, as part of promoting decent work, on the experiences of women in senior management positions in Government Departments, in order to review legislation and policies as a means of intensifying efforts to improve the participation of women in decision-making.

36 FUTURE PLANS As highlighted above in the numerical goals that the Department has set itself, emphasis will on the following non-numerical goals in order to make sure that we reach our target:- – Embark on headhunting of candidates from designated groups e.g. Women, Black People and People with Disabilities to ensure targets are met if other internal recruitment processes have failed. -Create a conducive climate to reasonably accommodate employees with disabilities by orientation of other staff on disability issues -Granting of financial assistance to develop Women (54%), Black People (85%) and People with disabilities (4%) in the Department. -To provide training to employees with disabilities to address career advancement and job performance according to the TAG on the Employment of People with Disabilities.

37 Re a leboga Siyabonga Nakhensa Thank You Rolivhuwa Dankie