• Honorable Chair and Members of the Committee

 

 

• Deputy Minister

 

 

• Acting DG and Senior Management of the Department and its entities

 

 

• Ladies and gentlemen

 

Chairperson, despite conflicting schedules, such as the mandatory Cabinet Committees currently in progress, in recognition of the authority and important role that is played by Parliament – and this Committee – in the oversight of the Executive and the bureaucracy – we opted to attend this portfolio committee meeting, prior to attending the Cabinet Committee. I am also therefore registering an apology that I am unable to attend the full session, but our DEL team will remain.

Today, we are here to present the analysis and implications of the State of the Nation Address (SONA) 2024. As it is practice, I will give the overview remarks and the officials, led by the Acting DG, will provide the detailed presentation - looking at the SONA as it related to the Department - which we have already captured in our plan for the year ending next month and the next financial year.

Let me flag the following:

 

• In line with SONA priorities, in 2024/25, the Department seeks to strengthen two broad areas of focus – employment retention and creation, and inclusive and decent work.

 

 

• In relation to employment retention, DEL programmes designed to provide alternatives to retrenchment and to support distressed companies and their workers, are implemented through the CCMA and Productivity SA. From 2019-23 some 160,000 existing jobs were saved. A further 240,000 work seekers were placed in permanent employment through the Department’s ESSA system.

 

 

• In relation to job creation: The Department’s UIF-funded Labour Activation Programme (LAP) has been reoriented towards demand-oriented skills training which leads directly to employment. LAP employment creation targets have been greatly expanded (to 2 million opportunities) following a rigorous process of evaluation and adjudication of proposals.

 

 

• With a firm commitment to alleviating youth unemployment, the Department continues to work closely with the Presidency, as well as with departments and agencies across government to create opportunities. A strong focus has been the development of digital portals and networks to open up access for young people to training and work opportunities, including the National Pathway Management Network and the department’s ESSA system, as well as the provision of digital access in remote and deprived areas.

 

 

• Through the Presidential Youth Employment Intervention, we established SAYouth.mobi as a zero-rated platform for unemployed young people to access opportunities for learning and earning. Over 4.3 million young people are now engaged on the network and 1.6 million have so far secured opportunities.

 

 

• Let us remind ourselves that this was achieved against the backdrop of the pandemic and lockdowns resulting in the loss of some 2 million jobs. Total employment has now recovered to pre-pandemic levels.

 

 

• However, Stats SA figures, released this week, remind us that the economy is still sluggish, we are not creating enough jobs to absorb new entrants to the labour market – hence the increase in unemployment rate from 31.9% to 32.1%. But there are also positive signs:

 

 

• Many previously discouraged work-seekers are now starting to look for work and this actually pushed the unemployment rate numbers up.

 

 

• If you look at the last 12 months as a whole (not just the quarter), the economy created 789 000 new jobs.　As the energy challenges get resolved, I believe, the number of jobs will grow.

 

 

• In relation to government’s (and SONA’s) decent work agenda and transformation of the workplace, the Department’s focus is on implementation, investigation and enforcement. It is worth reminding ourselves of the legislation we have introduced exactly to ensure a safe, healthy and inclusive workplace and to drive the decent work agenda:

 

 

• the LRA which concretizes workers’ constitutional labour rights and supports a robust system of collective bargaining and social dialogue guided by world-class institutions, the CCMA and NEDLAC;

 

 

• the BCEA and NMW Act which underpin minimum terms and conditions of employment (the NMW immediately benefited some 6 million vulnerable workers);

 

 

• Employment Equity and Affirmative Action legislation which seeks to support inclusive workplaces and transform racial and gender hierarchy which still characterizes much of the South African employment landscape (notwithstanding there has been a 5-fold increase in the number of jobs in executive management held by black people);

 

 

• as well as OHSA and COIDA regulation to enhance safe and healthy work environments.

 

I have no doubt that the Minister of Finance will provide a clear way forward to concretise the SONA commitments. DEL will continue to support efforts to combat unemployment and to drive the decent work agenda.