“Dispute resolution has shown itself to be the most important section of the labour debate as it revolves directly around mistreatment of workers and a possibility to influence job creation in the future. With employment grievances coming to the CCMA at a rate of 130 000 a year this study was done with the objective of judging the efficiency of this institution in order to create possible policy recommendations to speed up this process. This paper assesses the effi ciency and effectiveness of the labour dispute resolution system in post-apartheid South Africa by conducting an in-depth analysis of recent case data (2001 -2005) from the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA). Various aspects are considered, including the different types of arbitration available to the average worker as well as the structure of these institutions. It also includes detailed analysis of the data available and the overall effi ciency of the CCMA. As well as overall trends and patterns of dispute referrals (for example, by province, economic sector/occupation, and types of labour disputes) as well as the time cases take to be resolved (the socalled turnaround time).”
