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The Democratic Alliance welcomes the turnaround by the Department of Labour (DoL) in accepting that most labour brokers (a.k.a. legitimate outsourcing services) do add value to the South African economy. Jimmy Manyi, Director General of the DoL, clearly stated that the public debate on labour broking had been too broad, resulting in confusion where legitimate outsourcing firms had become stigmatised (Business Report 27 October 2009). In other words, the DoL is using the term "labour broker" as shorthand for exploitative practice, but at the same time accepts that temporary employment services are legitimate - i.e. most "labour brokers" are legitimate. The DoL has thus far chosen to tar the entire industry with the same brush of exploitation - at long last they now seem to have accepted the importance of drawing a distinction between legitimate labour brokers and those who operate outside of the law and the lazy watch of the DoL. While the DA welcomes the distinction that Manyi has made between legitimate employment services and exploitative practices - a distinction long held by the DA - it is obvious that the DoL still needs to grapple with the exact definition of a "labour broker" before it can proceed to ban, or even regulate "labour brokers". The devil is in the detail - because the legal definition of labour brokers will not differ from the selfsame "legitimate outsourcing services" - showing that they can just as well stop this. Besides, a host of regulations already exist which protect workers employed by labour brokers, so it is really a question of enforcement, not further regulation. The joint DA-COPE proposal for industry self-regulation would avert any such legal problems and would therefore be implemented much faster - so if Manyi is truly concerned about the worker abuse, then it is obvious that the usage of industry self-regulation is the preferred option