Through the lens of an idealist: Imagining the position of strike law in South Africa by the year 2055

by | Jan 31, 2026 | ACTA, ACTA 2025

Through the lens of an idealist: Imagining the position of strike law in South Africa by the year 2055

Author Mlungisi Tenza

ISSN: 1996-2088
Affiliations: LLB LLM LLD (South Africa); Associate Professor, School of Law, University of KwaZulu-Natal
Source: Acta Juridica, 2025, p. 213-242
https://doi.org/10.47348/ACTA/2025/a7

Abstract

The Constitution guarantees workers the right to strike. Workers use strike action as a bargaining tool when employers fail to meet their demands or address their grievances in the workplace. The right to strike and the strike itself have helped workers to achieve various things in the workplace, including improved working conditions and increased wages. Exercising the right to strike has resulted in not only positive acts that benefit workers, but also in the loss of employment through retrenchments due to protracted strikes; in addition, many workers have lost their lives due to strikes becoming violent. The struggle to liberate workers from the shackles of poverty, inequality, the ever-increasing rate of unemployment and differences in pay continues. This means that the weaponry of strike action is still necessary if South Africa wants to address the plight of workers. This article examines whether the law relating to strikes in the next 30 years will still be relevant in the labour relations environment in South Africa. I argue that strikes are becoming less popular, and very few workers or employees will continue to use them due to changes in the way that business is conducted. This is further affected by the increasing use of technology, including the introduction of gig work and apps to perform work. In addition, trade unions usually convene strikes and recruit people who are in formal employment; however, by 2055, the number of people joining unions will have decreased as few people will be in formal employment. Workers will mostly rely on the internet to voice their grievances against employers, and the latter, fearing reputational damage, may succumb to employee demands. This will have the same outcome as if workers were to go on strike. The result will be a situation where an individual worker and their employer will decide on their terms and conditions of work. The employer alone will decide on wage increases or other matters affecting workers, because collective bargaining will play a less important role.

Reforming the Labour Relations Act to realise collective rights for the informal economy: Lessons from the domestic and street vending sectors

by | Jan 31, 2026 | ACTA, ACTA 2025

Reforming the Labour Relations Act to realise collective rights for the informal economy: Lessons from the domestic and street vending sectors

Authors Pamhidzai Bamu & Marlese von Broembsen

ISSN: 1996-2088
Affiliations: LLB LLM PhD (Cape Town); Law Programme Coordinator for Africa, Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO); BA (Stellenbosch) LLB (Cape Town) MA (Dev Studies) (Western Cape) LLM (Harvard) PhD (Cape Town); Associate Professor, Centre for the Transformative Regulation of Work (CENTROW), University of the Western Cape and Senior Labour Rights Researcher, Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO)
Source: Acta Juridica, 2025, p. 243-282
https://doi.org/10.47348/ACTA/2025/a8

Abstract

The ILO’s Committee on Freedom of Association has developed jurisprudence that extends the right to freedom of association to ‘all workers without any distinction whatsoever’. Section 23 of the Constitution enshrines the collective labour rights of ‘every worker’. Yet, the Labour Relations Act (LRA) excludes workers in informal employment, who comprise over a third of South Africa’s workforce. Written as a thought piece, and placing domestic workers (who de facto are informally employed) and street vendors (who de iure work informally) at the centre, this article reimagines the LRA to account for the realities of workers in the informal economy: their workplaces (including private homes and public space); multiple employers (in the case of domestic workers) or no employer (in the case of street vendors); and in the case of workers who work in the public space, the central role of local government in determining access to the workplace and conditions of work. Drawing on three theoretical frameworks – Freedland and Kontouris’ ‘personal work relations’, Hepple’s typology of the functions of labour law, and power resources theory – the paper explores how the right to freedom of association, collective bargaining and the right to strike might be realised for the two occupational groups, and outlines the legislative reforms that would be needed.

Whither affirmative action?

by | Jan 31, 2026 | ACTA, ACTA 2025

Whither affirmative action?

Authors Shamima Gaibie & Jeremy Phillips

ISSN: 1996-2088
Affiliations: BA LLB (Witwatersrand) LLM (London); Senior Director, Cheadle Thompson & Haysom Inc (CTH); BA LLB (Cape Town) LLM (Fort Hare); Senior Associate, CTH
Source: Acta Juridica, 2025, p. 283-311
https://doi.org/10.47348/ACTA/2025/a9

Abstract

This article critically examines affirmative action in South Africa, tracing its constitutional and legislative development, judicial interpretation and practical challenges, with comparative insights from India and Malaysia. It highlights the evolution from the cautious, flexible approach in Van Heerden to the restrictive framework in SAPS v Solidarity obo Barnard, which prioritises valid Employment Equity Plans (EEPs) and narrowly limits challenges to the implementation of remedial measures. Post-Barnard jurisprudence confirms that affirmative action measures are unlawful only where EEPs are deficient, misapplied or regionally misaligned, particularly when numerical targets function as rigid quotas. The 2023 Employment Equity Amendment Act and the 2025 sectoral targets introduce ambitious transformation goals; however, their implementation is constrained by the limited availability of suitably skilled candidates from designated groups. A comparison of South Africa’s decentralised sector-wide approach with India’s structured reservation system and Malaysia’s public-sector quotas reveals the need to align affirmative action with labour market realities, educational pipelines and economic policy. The article concludes that substantive workplace transformation cannot rely solely on quotas or targets. Instead, a holistic, multi-dimensional strategy is required – integrating legislative enforcement with targeted social, educational and economic interventions – to effectively redress historic disadvantage and achieve meaningful equality.

Whither social security?

by | Jan 31, 2026 | ACTA 2025

Whither social security?

Author Marius Olivier

ISSN: 1996-2088
Affiliations: BA LLB (Pretoria) LLD (South Africa); Honorary Professor, Faculty of Law, Nelson Mandela University; Extraordinary Professor, Faculty of Law, North-West University; Adjunct-Professor, School of Law, University of Western Australia; Visiting Fellow: Refugee Law Initiative, School of Advanced Study, University of London (UK)
Source: Acta Juridica, 2025, p. 312-356
https://doi.org/10.47348/ACTA/2025/a10

Abstract

The contribution highlights the need for critical reform of the South African social security system, despite significant advances made over the last few decades. The required reforms must be informed by the need for a reconceptualised understanding of the comprehensive social protection objectives to be achieved, a context-sensitive appreciation of the social security risk concept and the associated vulnerabilities underlying the social security response framework, and an enhanced comprehension of work. Incorporating economic and environmental risks in the social security scope would ensure that social security could meaningfully respond to climate change concerns and loss of livelihood support. This would also provide a basis for accommodating those engaged in care work and in the informal economy. Substantive equality considerations, enshrined in both the Constitution and international law, would strengthen the case for including excluded and marginalised categories of persons, including the long-term and structurally unemployed, and help to inform system redesign to better accommodate disadvantaged women. The concerning trend towards new exclusions and limitations in South African social security must be confronted.

The Labour Relations Act at 30: Navigating challenges and opportunities in the age of artificial intelligence

by | Jan 31, 2026 | ACTA, ACTA 2025

The Labour Relations Act at 30: Navigating challenges and opportunities in the age of artificial intelligence

Author Letlhokwa George Mpedi

ISSN: 1996-2088
Affiliations: B Juris LLB (Vista) LLM (Rand Afrikaans) LLD (Johannesburg); Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Professor of Labour and Social Security Law, Faculty of Law, University of Johannesburg; Visiting Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana; Visiting Professor, Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada
Source: Acta Juridica, 2025, p. 357-381
https://doi.org/10.47348/ACTA/2025/a11

Abstract

Reflecting on the 30 years since the Labour Relations Act 66 of 1995 (LRA) was passed in South Africa raises important questions about the progress made in promoting fair labour practices, and the challenges that remain. The creation of the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration was a key achievement in making workplace relations more democratic, and providing accessible conflict resolution for both workers and employers. However, with the rapid advancements in technology, particularly the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), the following question arises: are current labour laws adapting to these swift changes? This contribution highlights some of the successes and ongoing difficulties of the LRA, by examining its role in regulating employment relations and raising critical issues: Are workers sufficiently protected in an age of automation? How might innovative approaches, such as online dispute resolution, enhance access to justice? Furthermore, how can South Africa’s labour framework remain robust and inclusive amidst technological disruptions? The conclusion is that the vision for the future should be one that balances the potential of AI with the essential need to protect workers’ rights in an ever-evolving economic landscape.

Climate-responsive regulation for heat stress in South African workplaces

by | Jan 31, 2026 | ACTA, ACTA 2025

Climate-responsive regulation for heat stress in South African workplaces

Author Cecile de Villiers

ISSN: 1996-2088
Affiliations: LLB LLM LLD (Stellenbosch). Lecturer, Department of Commercial Law, University of Cape Town
Source: Acta Juridica, 2025, p. 382-423
https://doi.org/10.47348/ACTA/2025/a12

Abstract

Rising temperatures caused by climate change increase the risk of heat stress for employees. In South Africa, heat exposure is expected to be the most common climate impact on occupational health and safety (OHS), and it requires an urgent and targeted legislative response. While the Climate Change Act 22 of 2024 promotes a coordinated and cooperative legal response to climate adaptation, its interaction with labour legislation in advancing adaptation objectives remains to be seen, as the Act is yet to be fully implemented. This article highlights that existing labour legislation offers insufficient protection against climate-related heat stress risks in the workplace, and that the fragmented legislative framework hampers climate adaptation. This is illustrated through a discussion of the legislative regulation of heat stress risks by the Occupational Health and Safety Act 85 of 1993 and the Physical Agents Regulations, which were introduced in 2025. OHS measures interact with minimum employment conditions under the Basic Conditions of Employment Act 75 of 1997, and regulatory examples from Spain offer guidance for reform in the context of extreme heat. The article also suggests that collective bargaining under the Labour Relations Act 66 of 1995 offers a valuable supplementary response to protect the heat health of employees. Drawing on OHS guidance by the International Labour Organization and the experience of Australia, the article argues that climate-responsive regulations under OHS legislation are required to respond to climate impacts. Such regulations would better integrate the above labour legislation with climate adaptation measures that protect employees against increasing heat stress risks.