During the State of the Nation address in February this year the
President of our country rightfully declared that “At the centre of our
economic programmes is, and should always be, the consideration whether
their success is helping to improve the quality of life of all South
Africans, acting as an important weapon in our War on Poverty and
accelerating our advance towards the attainment of such objectives as
the reduction of unemployment and advancing the goal of health for
all.” It is thus not a surprise that we all consistently bemoan the
fact that our economy is not creating enough jobs, although we have
been experiencing relative satisfying economic growth figures over the
recent couple of years. I would not like to undermine your own
understanding of some of the fundamentals contributing to the
aforementioned situation; hence I have no intention of expanding on the
point. However, I am sure that COSATU, NACTU and FEDUSA must have
reflected on some of these realities when you called on your members at
the Presidential Job Summit in 1998 to contribute one day’s wages in
order to help create jobs.
I am sure there were many that received this announcement with a
fair share of skepticism for various reasons. Some might have seen it
as a reinforcement of the perceived oversimplication of the complex
matter of structural unemployment by trade unions -given the potential
size of a fund that could be established by contributions of
workers I believe approximately R89 million was raised in 1998
following the call by the trade union federations. Sadly, in the
process I believe many missed out on the key messages from this very
noble initiative. Firstly, and more importantly, the establishment of
the Trust demonstrated the willingness to do something about the
unemployment problem, instead of just talking about the problem.
Secondly, it was a reminder to all of us about the ever willingness of
workers to sacrifice for the good of our nation. A tradition that the
working class established during our fight to get rid of the unjust
system of Apartheid.
If more of us could just stop theorizing and debating about the
unemployment problem, and instead come up with concrete job creation
programmes – maybe we could make more and faster strides in arresting
the unacceptable unemployment levels. Master of ceremonies, I also
cannot recall why this noble idea was a once off initiative during
1998. Can you imagine how much the Trust would have collected annually
if this noble idea was kept alive? Have we solved the unemployment
level or is it too late for us to re-introduce the idea?
The aforementioned spirit displayed by ordinary workers that in many
cases are underpaid, is also fully aligned to the theme of the African
National Congress’s January 8th Statement: “Mass mobilization to build
a caring society”. The work that is being done by the Trust under the
able leadership of the Board of Trustees also relate directly to one of
government’s critical Apex Priorities regarding the elaboration of an
integrated and comprehensive anti-poverty strategy that addresses
especially sections of the population most affected by this scourge.
These include children, women, the youth, people living in rural areas
and urban informal settlements, people with disabilities or chronic
illnesses and the elderly. Among the key proposed interventions are:
expanding the public works programme, employment subsidies for direct
job-creation for targeted groups, enhancing employment search
capability, improving education and training, improving services and
assets among poor communities, specific interventions in poor
households, and ensuring effectiveness of institutions supporting women
and other sectors.
At the Department of Labour, over and above all the pressing labour
market issues we have to deal, is the issue of skills development. By
now there is consensus from all our partners that, apart from hostile
international factors like rising oil prices, the US recession, the
South African economy is beginning to experience growth strains because
of “lack of skills” obviously taking into account all factors and
debates associated with this problem. There are views regarding the
noble economic growth prospects we could be enjoying from our
infrastructure projects and how this is being hamstrung skills
shortages. There are some who like in ESKOM’s and the electricity
debacle are of the view that the skills shortages problem is something
that could have been foreseen and that perhaps we responded a bit too
late to. Membathisi Shepered Mphumzi Mdladlana may not have the
necessary cloud, but certainly as early as 1998, arguing for the
passage of the Skilled Development Act, he had a vision and belief our
ability to deal decisively with our skills development challenges is a
critical precondition for solving our country’s structural unemployment
in a sustainable way. It is very said that it took almost 10 years for
people to hear and understand a simple message.
Against this backdrop the Department of Labour has listened to all
the debates and comments on how best to oil the skills development
machinery (SETAs, the NSF). We are pushing forward with firm proposals
for legislative reforms that include amendment to the Skills
Development Act. These broad reforms include doing away with the last
sections of the Manpower Development Act, formalizing quality assurance
for trade occupations and streamlining the functions of the National
Skills Authority and NSF. We have tabled all these proposals through
NEDLAC and trust that our social partners have engaged with them and
enriched our final proposals to Cabinet. All these legislative reforms
will have implications for the way we handle challenges for skilling
our people and I trust social partners will continue to support us.
Coming back closer to the subject matter of the evening, I was told
that the Trust has to date funded 106 projects nationally across
various sectors, representing a total commitment of R53 million with
the majority located in two of our poorest Provinces, namely Eastern
Cape and Limpopo. Also very welcoming is the partnership that you
managed to forge with the Development Bank of South Africa (DBSA) and
various government departments. Despite the apparent partnerships
already in place, I believe that the Trust should continue to explore
opportunities to leverage co-funding arrangements with government
departments and agencies so as to optimize the impact of the Trust’s
own financial contributions. As an example, there is little
justification for the Trust to use its resources to pay for skills
development interventions, given inter alia the resources available for
this very same purpose under the National Skills Fund (NSF) and Sector
Education and Training Authorities (SETAs). At the same time I know
that the NSF, in terms of its current scope, is not allowed to fund
brick and mortar-hence this scenario leans itself perfectly to
co-funding arrangements. Reports are indicating that such collaboration
with the Department has already occurred on a number of projects you
have funded to date.
My intelligence sources informed me that the Trust is about to
embark on some interesting initiatives like the pilot project with the
Wits Language School to train 100 students in foreign languages like
Portuguese, Spanish and French with an eye on opportunities that will
be presented by the 2010 Soccer World Cup, Pan African Parliament
activities, etc. The Department of Labour is keen to explore possible
collaboration in such initiatives, through the National Skills Fund and
I am sure mutually we can develop something that will have major impact
and expand this programmes in all our provinces.
Lastly, I would like to applaud the efforts of those behind the
various projects that will be receiving awards tonight. Your presence
here tonight bears testimony of an excellent contribution towards the
achievement of the objectives behind the establishment of the Job
Creation Trust. Please continue to build on your achievements and in so
doing help building a better future for fellow South Africans. As I
stated in my response in Parliament to the State of the Nation Address
earlier this year: “Yes Comrade President our people have political
freedom however, that political freedom without economic control is
hollow.” May God Almighty help us that we don’t reach a stage in our
history where we will painfully regret ignoring this simple fact of
life.
I thank you!
