Deadline for submissions on protection of CHWs extended

The Department of Employment and Labour has extended the deadline for written submissions on the protection of Community Health Workers (CHWs) in South Africa.

The submissions on the protection of CHWs were made to the National Minimum Wage (NMW) Commission in line with the National Minimum Wage Act.

The initial deadline for submissions was 31 January 2023.

The Commission has published a notice on Monday, extending the period for submission of written inputs after it announcement in December 2022 that it had started an investigation into the wages and conditions of employment in the Community Health Workers sector.

NMW Chairperson, Professor van der Walt said the Commission resolved to extend the deadline to 28 February 2023.

“The terms of reference of the investigation are to investigate the wages and conditions of employment of the Community Health Workers in the health sector, with a view to establish a sectoral determination prescribing minimum wages and conditions of employment. The NMW Commission is conducting the investigation in terms of Section 52(3) of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA), No 75 of 1997,” Van der Walt said.

The Community Health Worker Programme (CHWP) means:

• A programme to provide public or community services through a labour-intensive programme initiated by the government and funded by public, private or donor resources;
• All projects and programmes accessing public funds, including those implemented by Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and Community Based Organisations (CBOs), Faith Based Organisations (FBOs) and private companies; and
• Any other programme deemed to be part of the CHWP as determined by the National Department of Health or a provincial Department of Health.

“CHW usually includes among others adult community nursing, therapy services, specialist nursing, preventive services such as sexual health and smoking cessation clinics, and child health services including health visiting and school nursing,” Van der Walt explained.

Interested parties are given another opportunity to send their comments to the Directorate: Employment Standards, Department of Employment and Labour, Private Bag X117, Pretoria, 0001 or to SDinvestigations@labour.gov.za (link sends e-mail).