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International audienceCtésias de Cnide, auteur notamment de Persica et médecin à la cour d'Artaxerxès II, a connu une existence assez mouvementée. Certains épisodes de sa vie sont bien attestés (missions diplomatiques), mais d'autres demeurent obscurs (durée de son séjour en Perse, dernière période de sa vie). Une extrême prudence est donc de mise pour qui veut donner des réponses définitives en ce qui concerne une éventuelle orientation partisane et du personnage et de son oeuvre. En tout cas, Ctésias mérite le statut d'historien qu'on lui a trop souvent refusé

South Africa currently allows labour broking although this area of commerce is problematic. The trade union movement, government and organised business are presently debating the future regulation of this industry. Namibia has experimented with, and failed, to place a legislative ban on labour broking. The Supreme Court of Appeal of Namibia considered International Labour Organisation conventions and provisions of their Constitution before concluding that labour broking should be regulated but not prohibited. In this article it is argued that South African policy makers can gain valuable insights from the Namibian experience. It is submitted that it would be appropriate for Parliament to take cognisance of international and foreign principles and to accept amendments that would provide for stricter regulation for labour broking, rather than placing an outright ban on this economic activity.

This note explores the powers of the Labour Court as envisaged in the Labour Relations Act 66 of 1995 (LRA), where a protected strike disintegrates into violent riotous conduct. The legal status of protected strikes raises important questions of law, namely: whether the Labour Court has the authority to alter the legal status of a strike; the autonomy of collective bargaining; and the legal test which the Labour Court should apply when intervening. The court in National Union of Food Beverage Wine Spirits & Allied Workers v Universal Product Network (Pty) Ltd 2016 37 ILJ 476 (LC) dealt with this precise problem. There can be no doubt that South Africa is plagued by widespread strike violence which often occur during protected strikes. However, this contribution poses the question whether the Labour Court has not overstepped its mandated jurisdiction and it questions whether such alterations of the status of strikes would have a positive effect on the institution of collective bargaining.  

Namibia has recently introduced policies regarding the regulation of agency work, and South Africa is in the process of doing the same. The promotion of the decent work agenda by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the implementation of flexicurity policies by the European Union (EU) have been followed by the adoption of instruments giving recognition to agency work. This contribution revisits the approach to the regulation of agency work in Namibia and South Africa. It considers the question of whether these two cases can cast light on the changing role of labour law regulation as developments unfold on the international front.