Pretoria - Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana is concerned at the low salaries being paid to inspectors in his department.
"I must admit that I have the most horribly paid inspectors within the civil service. I feel very strongly about this as it is a subject that is very close to my heart,'' he said at a conference of inspectors on Tuesday.
Mdladlana said the solution lay in the integration of inspectorates from all government departments that would ensure that they enjoyed the same conditions of service.
He said inspectors worked under "extremely dangerous conditions", to the extent where many have asked to be provided with bullet-proof vests to shield them from unruly employers.
The minister said he would stand behind inspectors to ensure that they did their work with no hindrances. "Theirs is to ensure that workers operate in conditions of health and safety day-in and day-out," he said.
The conference was jointly organised by the Norwegian government, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the Department of Labour.
