Essential services may refer to a class of occupations that have been legislated by a government to have special restrictions in regard to labour actions such as not being allowed to strike. The International Labour Office, a United Nations agency, distinguishes an essential service from a minimum service.
South Africa: essential services during lockdown
- Enabling Services
- Food & essential products – related manufacturing and processing, and distribution
- ICT – datacentres, fibre optic infrastructure, towers and antennae
- Water supply, sewerage and sanitation
- Electricity – stable power supply with no load shedding
What must a business do if they are required to pay for registering as an essential service on the portal?
This is a free service. If a business is being asked to pay, it should report this unethical conduct using the CIPC toll-free number: 0800 008 885.
What should happen if law enforcement stops employees and won’t let them travel to their essential job?
Law enforcement is not allowed to prevent an essential service employee from travelling to his or her essential job if he or she is in the possession of an identity document, the 11B(3) Form, the permit and the letter from his or her company.
Notwithstanding the legal position, employees may encounter issues with police officers and/or soldiers who are not well versed in the applicable legal rules.
To cater for this, it is recommended that an internal or external legal representative is put on standby and that her or his contact details be provided to employees.
This will allow employees to contact the legal representative if they encounter issues, and the legal representative can engage with the police officers/soldiers telephonically to endeavour to resolve any impasse that is based on a misunderstanding of the legal rules.
If the legal representative is not able to resolve the situation, the employee should adopt a conservative approach and not proceed with the trip.
The employer should be advised of the situation and appropriate steps planned based on further legal advice (which may include reporting the situation at a local police station).
What should an employee do if they are stopped and asked for a bribe?
The current situation creates significant scope for potential abuse by police officers and/or soldiers, who may seek to solicit bribes from employees (even if employees are acting in compliance with the applicable legal rules and have all the necessary paperwork with them).
As a first step, the above advice in respect of having a legal representative on standby is applicable. If possible, the employee should call the legal representative who should then try to defuse the situation.