Advice to Cofesa Confederation of Employers of South Africa

From March 13-18, 2008 Thieu Korten of DECP visited South Africa at the request of Cofesa to advise them on several subjects concerning the strategy of their organisation.

Cofesa was established some 18 years ago by Hein van der Walt. It has some 6000 members with 200.000 employees. Cofesa has 30 branch offices and employs 140 consultants or advisors, offering an extensive service package which includes training programmes, workshops, information meetings, OSH, wage negotiations, counselling, legal advise and assistance, mediation, and even assurances for medical assistance and funeral coverage.

During the meetings with Hein van der Walt as well as with Piet Landsberg, service and training manager, Thieu Korten conclude that, on the whole, Cofesa is a very professional organisation which can stand every test with comparable Dutch organisations like AWVN. DECP advised Cofesa to modify their subscription fee system and offered some suggestions on other minor issues.

DECP also offered to introduce Mr. Van der Walt or some other representatives from Cofesa to AWVN.