MPs given 11 reasons to stay away from work

Employment law specialist says private sector would not accept it

MEMBERS of parliament now have 11 reasons to be absent from work, thanks to a new attendance policy adopted this week.

The policy lists 11 categories of leave that will allow MPs to take two days of “cultural or religious leave”, among others.

On top of that, MPs get five days set aside for special leave to attend traditional initiation, traditional training and court appearances, among other specified activities.

MPs with businesses can also take up to five days of “private business leave”, provided they declare these businesses to parliament.

A five-day family responsibility leave is also part of the package. It includes members of the extended family up to in-laws and traditional kinship.

The policy defines a family member as “a relative by blood, marriage, adoption, fostering, traditional kinship or a life part- ner (including guardian, grandparent and in-laws) of an MP or a person who is in a bona fide domestic or household relationship with the MP, including situations in which there is implied dependency or support role for the MP.

However, should the five days not be enough, MPs can get a further five days under the compassionate leave category.

Mathetha Swafo, an employment law specialist at Dibata Dispute Resolutions, said parliament’s proposed leave for MPs was too generous.

He said if it were to be applied in the private sector and other public sector institutions, people would forever be on leave. It will be deemed to be quite generous ... if it was an employer-employee compact, it wouldn’t be functional. There would not be any work done because people would be forever on leave.”

He said some of the categories appeared to be quite odd, against leave policies elsewhere.

He said regular workers, in terms of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, were entitled to six categories of leave — annual, sick, study, paternity, family responsibility and compassionate leave.

“There are different dispen-

A five-day family responsibility leave is part of the package

sations that employers have to work with but that [parliament’s] is way too generous,” said Swafo.

The new policy was approved by parliament’s joint rules committee on Thursday. It applies to members of the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces.

It was first introduced last year as a draft, but it was criticised by ANC MPs who said the document had been badly written and failed to distinguish between ordinary MPs and ministers.

The policy also states that if MPs are absent for three consecutive days without permission, they will pay a sanction of R1 000 for each day they are away. “If an MP is absent for 15 or more consecutive sitting days of the assembly or the council, without the leave of the house, the member loses his or her seat,” the policy reads.

Once the system is in place, the records of MPs’ attendance will be made public each year.

ANC caucus spokesman Moloto Mothapo said leave was almost the same “as what you find at other private companies and public institutions”.

Democratic Alliance deputy chief whip Sandy Kalyan said her party supported the policy.

“MPs are supposed to be people of integrity. You don’t expect them to lie about where they are and what they are doing,” said Kalyan.