Minister accuses lawyers of holding up CCMA processes

Speaking during the Labour Department’s Budget vote debate in the National Assembly, Mdladlana said studies conducted by the department showed that the appearance of lawyers in cases brought before the CCMA was stifling the conciliation and arbitration process at the commission, according to a report on The Citizen site. ‘For the first time we now have objective data that confirms our long held suspicion that lawyers are milking our labour market regime to death by unnecessarily complicating and consequently prolonging cases to the detriment of both employers and employees,’ he said. The Minister said in light of this information the role and functions of legal representation within the CCMA would have to be examined and their damage to the system would have to be limited. Full report on The Citizen site