South Africa

When a democratic South Africa was established in 1994, a new labour relations regime was conceived - tripartism at national level, centralised bargaining mainly at sectoral level, and participation and joint decision-making at the workplace level to address inequality, unemployment and poverty (Everett, 2012). To prevent and resolve collective and individual disputes, new institutions were formed, in particular the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA), which was charged with providing speedy and informal arbitration for certain employment rights, primarily conduct and capability dismissals, and the Labour Court (LC), which was given the power to adjudicate in respect of a wide range of other individual employment rights matters. Importantly also, the Labour Court was given the power to review CCMA arbitration awards with appeals going to the Labour Appeal Court (Donnelly and Dunn, 2006). Nearly two decades later, these institutions have bedded in and, as will be shown below, are on the whole working efficiently in the field of individual dispute resolution, even though the broader industrial relations environment is increasingly problematic because of growing, and often violent strike activity and collective conflict.