His comments are the latest broadside against the legal fraternity, which also came under attack during the government’s attempts to reform the Road Accident Fund, which spent altogether R1,3bn in legal fees in the 2006 financial year to settle compensation claims brought by accident victims. Of this, R517m was for its own legal costs and R802m for the fees of claimants.

Mdladlana said lawyers were unnecessarily complicating and prolonging cases in the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) to the detriment of both employers and employees. “In view of this, we have to examine closely the role and functions of legal representation within the CCMA in a manner that would limit the damaging role lawyers are having o­n our system,” Mdladlana said.

He noted that between November 1996 and January 31 this year, the CCMA had processed 1,069-million disputes with the average time to resolve conciliation being 26 days and for arbitration 48 days.

Mdladlana expressed confidence yesterday in the sector education and training authorities (Setas), but said they would have to work in clusters to address skills shortages and to align themselves with the industrial policy framework.

He was reluctant to embark o­n a process of amalgamation.

At a media briefing o­n Monday night, he said he would not rule out changes in the format of Setas, and was in favour of a system with fewer of them. There are 23 Setas.

A formal Seta review would take place o­nly in 2009, however. “Until then, things will stay the same,” he said.

Mdladlana was emphatic that the broad objectives underpinning labour legislation were sound, and would not be altered, but he conceded there were implementation and operational weaknesses that affected the efficiency and effectiveness of the labour market system. The International Labour Organisation had been requested to conduct a review of these institutional challenges.

Mdladlana also said he would soon sign into law regulations in terms of the Skills Development Act that would make it compulsory for all employers to register all placement opportunities, including vacancies, with the department.

He announced that a further amount of R300m had been ring-fenced in the 2007-08 National Skills Fund budget for 16 priority artisan trades. To qualify for a slice of this budget, Setas would have to adjust artisan targets in their service-level agreements, reprioritise their finances and contribute financially towards the identified priority trades. The R300m was in addition to the R316m already allocated to 13 Setas for scarce and critical skill development.

The weakening of trade unions and bargaining councils was an “extremely worrying and negative development”, Mdladlana said.

Trade unions were becoming less representative. In the past year, 38 collective agreements had had to be extended to nonparties.

Democratic Alliance labour spokesman Mark Lowe criticised Mdladlana’s comments o­n Setas, and called for them to be completely scrapped. “How many more times is the minister going to back the Setas while promising a review?”

“The R5bn, scandal-prone, red-tape-laden Seta system is a highly interventionist and expertise-sapping bureaucracy that is ill-suited to the needs of a free market economy and to the implementation capabilities of an undercapacitated government such as the ANC’s,” said Lowe.