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GroundUp reports that Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) offices in Johannesburg and Benoni have stopped allowing walk-in cases.
Workers queue outside for hours before being directed by officials to nearby internet cafes to complete their dispute referral process online. As a result, workers are paying up to R80 at the internet cafes for a service the CCMA used to offer for free. Meantime, queuing workers get advice on how to fill out their forms from security guards who sometimes give incorrect instructions. When GroundUp visited the Joburg office on Wednesday, about 12 people were queuing outside and access to the building was limited to staff only. Members of the Casual Workers Advice Office (CWAO) and the Open CCMA Campaign were outside the Joburg and Benoni offices for three weeks in March, assisting workers with filling out their referral forms. Edgar Mokgola of the CWAO said: “The security guards have become officials of the CCMA. They are the ones going outside giving, taking queries, calling for cases, and so forth.” Constance Masekwameng of the Open CCMA Campaign said they found at Benoni that “the CCMA has outsourced the dispute referral system to the internet cafe next door” and workers were paying up to R80 for that service. The Open CCMA Campaign, which started in February, has demanded that the CCMA should reopen fully, including walk-in facilities and having part-time commissioners hear cases. Masekwameng also said that outside the Joburg offices con artists and scammers were “taking advantage of desperate workers” and were charging workers in need of CCMA services between R200 and R900 to help them.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Masego Mafata and Liezl Human at GroundUp
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page