Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant has not attended a single meeting of the Portfolio Committee on Labour since her appointment in 2010.<\/p>\n
The Democratic Alliance (DA), who asked President Jacob Zuma to fire her on Wednesday, said her lack of presence showed a “flagrant disregard for the constitution and the rule of law\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery attempt made by the DA to get her to appear before the committee has been blocked by the ANC, spearheaded by committee chair Lumka Yengeni,\u201d Ian Ollis, DA MP and shadow minister of labour, said in a statement on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Oliphant\u2019s spokesperson Sithembele Tshwete told Fin24 by telephone that there is no need for the minister to attend the meetings.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t understand the DA\u2019s obsession for her to address the committee when it has agreed that the director general (Thobile Lamati) can handle all the issues,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe minister has sent representatives to the committee and every issue has been covered and addressed,\u201d he said. \u201cThe minister has had cabinet commitments.<\/p>\n
\u201c(Lamati), who is technical person who deals with issues, does go to the portfolio committee meeting,\u201d he said. \u201cThey (her team) handle every issue.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ollis said Oliphant\u2019s refusal to attend is in \u201cdirect contravention\u201d of both the constitution and the rules of the National Assembly, which empower parliament to hold to account members of the executive, including cabinet ministers.<\/p>\n
However, Tshwete said that while the DA had requested the minister to attend, the committee had ruled that other leaders in her department could answer the same questions and turned down the request.<\/p>\n
Ollis said Oliphant \u201csimply refuses to be held to account, and in true ANC fashion she is not held to account by her party, her president or her cabinet\u201d.<\/p>\n
The DA believes Oliphant should be fired for the Labour Department\u2019s poor performance in the face of low economic growth and high unemployment levels.<\/p>\n
The country\u2019s unemployment rate stood at 5.2 million in the second quarter of 2015, during which time the gross domestic product had contracted by 1.3%.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the five years she has been at the helm, South Africa has experienced an increase in unemployment and retrenchments, an increase in labour unrest and strike-related violence and a rapidly degenerating Compensation Fund that fails injured workers,\u201d said Ollis.<\/p>\n
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