Africa labour department to review the country’s labour law may be detrimental to employment opportunities.

The Labour Relations Amendment Bill and the Basic Conditions of Employment Amendment Bill are part of a suite of changes to labour laws that were first proposed in 2010 and have been under prolonged negotiation in the National Economic and Development Labour Council (NEDLAC) for about a year.

The focus of the amendments, the labour department said , is to address the “phenomenon of labour-broking”, regulating contract work, strikes and lockouts, essential services, organisational rights and collective bargaining, among others.

Although the Bills are now the subject of public hearings before Parliament’s portfolio committee on labour, it has been met with ardent criticism overtime.

According to the Business Unity South Africa (BUSA) after conducting an impact assessment of the proposed changes to the Basic Conditions of Employment Act and the Labour Relations Amendment Act, about 28,000 people will lose their jobs if proposed changes to labour regulations are passed.

It says the law will “damage the prospects of small business” and will take “a heavy toll of those most vulnerable and marginalised in the labour market — young people and recent entrants to the labour market, women, Africans, and those with lower levels of education.”

BUSA declares that there is need for the Parliament to conduct its own assessment on prospective changes.

The South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SACCI) position is also in line with that of BUSA. The chamber told the portfolio committee the amendments would not create jobs.

It said “Unfortunately, some of the proposed amendments… do exactly the opposite, by imposing further costs on business to employ workers.”

“We call upon parliament… to request the department of labour to address the problematic amendments in order to achieve greater certainty for the business community.”

BUSA and SACCI were not the only group to publicly voice their aversion on the proposed amendment; the Democratic Alliance (DA) has also come out to express their reservation on the issue.

On his part, DA MP Andricus van der Westhuizen told reporters at Parliament that “If passed in their current form, the labour amendment bills will exacerbate the unemployment crisis.”

DA MP Sej Motau , also aligned that “ We cannot gamble with the future of South African workers.”

Motau asserted that South Africa “has the highest unemployment rate among developed and developing countries, with 3.2 million people between the ages of 15 and 34 currently unemployed”.

He said if the bills were passed as it is, they would “increase the cost of doing business, reduce South Africa’s attractiveness as an investment destination and, ultimately, destroy jobs”.

He criticised among other sections of the Labour Relations Amendment Bill, the part that seek to limit certain contracted employment to six months.

Motau said six months was too restrictive. “Twelve months is held as good practice globally… and where we should be aiming.”

“The DA therefore calls for a new RIA to be completed to determine the effect of the current proposals on economic growth and job creation before any decision is taken on this draft legislation,” he said.

The DA also opposed section 55 of the Basic Conditions of Employment Amendment Bill. It said the current version gave the labour minister too much power to act unilaterally, without proper consultation or accountability, including conferring the power to determine minimum salary increases for so-called “uncovered” workers in certain sectors.

The Proposed changes to the Basic Conditions of Employment Act gave the minister power, in sectoral determinations, to prescribe increases on actual rates of pay. At present, the minister is empowered to prescribe increases on minimum rates of pay.

The DA also had a problem with sections of the same draft legislation dealing with the power of employers to object to compliance orders issued by labour inspectors, which the bill seeks to remove.

According to the 2011 World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Survey, South Africa currently ranks fourth to last in the world in terms of “flexibility in wage determination” and third last in “hiring and firing practices.”