Yet there are over 3.2 million registered companies in South Africa, according to 2016 Tax Statistics jointly published by Treasury and the South African Revenue Service. So less than 7% of these would be inspected by the labour department this year. Cosatu national spokesperson Sizwe Pamla said the shortage of labour inspectors was an issue the federation had raised with government and the department "for some time". "The department is not going to able to achieve its targets as long as it fails to employ more labour inspectors," said Pamla. "Rotten apples" in the inspectorate and the inability of the department to enforce its own legislation, were a "big, big, big headache" for workers, said Pamla.

Source: The North Africa Journal May 09, 2017 13:52 UTC