Asandiswa (Asa) Ntanjana

February March 2023 Happy New Year - Braamfontein, Johannesburg, Employment, Labour Law

Asandiswa Ntanjana is a 2nd-year candidate attorney at Goldberg Attorneys Inc. Asa, as she is better known, is a quick learner and has her eyes on the horizon. However, her feet are still well-planted on the ground.  Call her now on 0114030015. 0766160089 You can follow her on Linkedin @ https://www.linkedin.com/in/asandiswa-ntanjana-984b4a24

Self-Analysis 

I am Asa; I spent the past six years developing my client service & research skills as I worked for two media monitoring companies. I was promoted within my first year of working in the industry. I also have a track record of receiving awards for holding a top-performer position in terms of meeting daily targets. 
I have good legal drafting skills, and a strong work ethic; I do whatever it takes to deliver when I commit to a deadline. I also have strong written and oral communication skills, progressive problem-solving skills, and great interpersonal skills, which will enable me to gain and retain clients. I believe my experience in the client service industry and my experience as a student council at the Wits Law Clinic have prepared me for any high-pressure, fast-paced environment as I thrived in such intellectually challenging positions. 

I am academically strong, with a 78% overall mark average at Law School for the mid-2020 academic year. I was among eleven Wits University law students awarded bursaries for outstanding academic performance in our final year independent research paper. I also hold a BA degree in Communications and Journalism.

Mandatory Vaccinations in the Workplace

On 11 June 2021, the Labour Minister, Nxesi, enacted a directive on COVID-19 vaccination: 

Specific Workplaces: At the moment, the COVID-19 vaccination directive will operate in specific workplaces. 

Risk Assessment: Employers will need to undertake a risk assessment to determine whether there is a need to "make vaccination mandatory". This investigation must comply with sections 8 and 9 of the Occupational Health and Safety Act 85 of 1993 (OHSA) and must take "into account the operational requirements of the workplace, or the risk of their employees of severe COVID-19 disease or death due to their age or comorbidities". 

Identify tasks: Employers will need to identify those tasks which need to be done by a vaccinated employee by "virtue of the risk of transmission". 

Exemptions: Exemptions on medical grounds will only be where "an immediate allergic reaction of any severity to a previous dose or a known (diagnosed) allergy to a component of the COVID-19 vaccines".

Risk of Transmission: The employer must investigate and identify employees who must be vaccinated by virtue of their risk of transmission in the workplace. It is not a foregone conclusion that once the employer has decided that vaccination is mandatory due to its operational requirements, every employee must be vaccinated. Following a risk assessment exercise, an employer may decide to mandate vaccination for its employees who have been identified as being at risk of severe disease or death, notwithstanding a low risk of transmission in the workplace. 

Develop Plan: Regulation 3(1)(b) sets out that following the risk assessment exercise, every employer must develop a plan setting out the measures it intends to make regarding the vaccination of the employees and consult on such plan with any representative trade union and any health and safety committee. 

Implementation and Rights: Regulation 3(4) states that an employer in developing and implementing the plan must consider the rights of its employees to bodily integrity and freedom of religion, belief and opinion in terms of section 13 of the Constitution. 

The employer will have to weigh the rights of the individual employee versus the rights of the collective and the need to provide a safe work environment. Only through trial and error, study cases, debates and development will we obtain a harmonious workplace.

The employer will have to balance interests in deciding on a vaccination policy.