The Democratic Alliance and Congress of the People on Thursday jointly called for the establishment of a self-regulatory board in the labour broking market to enforce standards and curb the abuse of workers.

The two parties said talk by the government and trade unions of banning labour broking because of widespread exploitation of casual workers was populist and unrealistic.

"It is like saying we are going to ban capitalism," said Cope communications chief Phillip Dexter, adding that a ban would not stamp out broking but drive it underground and lead to more exploitation.

Ian Ollis, from the DA, said the government was neglecting its responsibility to inspect working conditions.

It should educate workers about their rights and help to protect them rather than outlaw a practice that was placing half a million people in temporary jobs every day.

"You can't ban an industry because government is not doing its job," he said.

The two parties proposed law amendments to make registration mandatory for all labour brokers and to set up a board of labour brokers to enforce standards and a code of conduct in the industry.

The new oversight mechanism should include an annual review of profit margins, to ensure that brokers were not defrauding workers, they said.

Lastly, the government should beef up its labour inspectorate to travel to all parts of the country to enforce the law and to report unfair labour broking practices.

"The better resourced inspectorate would be able to investigate illegal operators and issue compliance notices, followed by legal action," the parties said in their policy proposal.

Dexter said one of its authors was sacked Congress of South African Trade Unions boss Willie Madisha, who is now an MP for Cope.

He rejected suggestions that the differences between the opposition and the government on labour broking pointed to an ideological split with the government trying to create decent jobs while other parties had no objection to increasing casualisation of the work force.

This was clear from the fact that the promised half a million jobs the government hoped to create through the extended public works programme would also be temporary work, he said