Employment and Labour Deputy Minister, Boitumelo Moloi, has encouraged employers to use the department’s Employment Services of South Africa (ESSA) system to recruit workers and maintain stability in the labour market.

Moloi said the ESSA system is credible and user-friendly in allowing employers to recruit.

The Deputy Minister was speaking during the Department of Employment and Labour’s breakfast advocacy session with stakeholders in the Western Cape this week.

The session was held as part of efforts to promote compliance with the Employment Equity (EE) Act.

"Employers could further be assisted, as the department also offers counselling to job seekers. We need employers to be friends with us,” she said.

ESSA is an online recruitment service of the Department of Employment and Labour, available to all South African citizens.

Those who are unemployed and in the job market have to register as a job seeker on the Public Employment Services (PES) branch system.

The online portal is created for prospective job applicants to register and create their profiles (CV/resume), view vacancies, and review their CV.

Turning to workplace transformation, Moloi said South Africa’s workplaces are in need of an overhaul.

She emphasised that EE legislation is in place not to punish but to ensure compliance.

"EE self-regulation has not delivered results. That is why we are coming up with EE Act amendments. If we continue with the status quo, it will take us a century to transform workplaces. Workplace transformation is moving at a slow pace and we need to do something," she said.

Source: South African Government News Agency