CCMA received nearly 200,000 complaints last year, most over unfair dismissal

The majority of cases the Commission for Conciliation Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA)  heard in the 2018/2019 financial year involved unfair dismissals, its annual report revealed.

The report, released by commission director Cameron Morajane on Monday, highlights the number of issues the CCMA dealt with, including expanded jurisdiction, budget constraints and an increase in workload.

Morajane said they had received 193,732 cases in the 2018/2019 financial year, a 4% increase over the preceding year.

“Of the total, approximately 71% relate to unfair dismissals, followed by 11% [of cases] relating to unfair labour practices,” Morajane said.

Morajane said the business and professional sectors remained the highest in terms of referring cases to the CCMA. These sectors are sitting at 27%, followed by the security sector, which accounts for 12%.

“Our projection for 2019 and 2020 is that the case load I’ve just presented is projected to increase by 25%. This is due to legislative reforms.”

Morajane said despite the challenges the CCMA was facing, it managed to achieve 99% performance in the 2018/2019 financial year.

The report notes that in all the cases it heard in the 2018/2019 financial year, 88% of its conciliable cases were done within the statutory time frame of 30 days, taking on average, 24 days to complete the conciliation process from the date of referral.

“This shows the CCMA as an institution is committed to achieving its objectives as outlined in the different legislations,” Morajane said.