Webinar: social security and health and safety in action: interventions to mitigate the effects of covid-19
Programme Director, the country will be commemorating June 16 in less than 05 days from now and we will be remembering those young people who raised the political consciousness of many students and Honour those who departed in the hands of a brutal and murderous apartheid system.
We are reminded by days like these as we battle with the youth unemployment figures and other inequalities, the effects of the pandemic being one of these, that we were once treated as inferior and less human in a country of our birth.
To this day, the signs and scars of the brutal apartheid system are still showing in our people's lives, but we shall overcome one day.
Economic Recovery
The IMF Report focusing on the Global Economic Recovery Outlook dated the 26th Jan 2021 highlights education spending, digitalisation, policy support and vaccine rollout as key interventions for growth and economic activity.
The report highlights Japan as the key driver of economic growth in 2021. The Japan Economic Recovery Strategy focused more on stimulus on the fiscal and monetary front contribution for economic revisions and rebound.
The China strategy where the epidemic first started focused on robust recovery as well as, exports, returning back to activity earlier, social safety net, reforms and aggressive policy support.
Various literatures illustrate that only two words changed the Asian Economy and lifted 1 Billion People out of Poverty in a single Generation - “Inclusive Growth".
It was the Japanese inspiration from the old Japan to the new Japan and the power of example and innovation that built today's Japan.
The high quality technologies, management and system integration built today's Taiwan.
The inspiration of incentivising competitiveness built today's South Korea and those who are activists like the Minister and I will understand that this was mainly influenced by the North and South Korea economic experiences known as the laboratorial trial.
The aspiration of managing diversity has built Malaysia today. This country, went through similar historical experiences such as ours in South Africa and we need to take some good lessons and customise our policies to our situation here at home as a matter of urgency because as a country we had set ourselves a very important timeline in the form of the NDP Vision 2030.
UIF Interventions
As survivors of Covid-19 infection, the Minister and I will forever be thankful for the support and handwork of the frontline workers, particularly the health care professionals who took the risk by confronting the deadly virus to save our lives. We appreciate and honour all the frontline workers for this patriotic duty.
We meet here today with our social partners and stakeholders on this webinar platform to share with the country and the world, all the government interventions working together with the social partners which mitigated for some of the effects of the pandemic and lockdowns, as the Minister has already mentioned.
We do this to demonstrate to South Africans and the world as well as our stakeholders all our interventions that protected the workers and preserved jobs in the era of Covid-19 pandemic.
It is our firm belief that during this time the Insurance Sector was battling the global pandemic but the UIF Investment Portfolio remained resilient in the most difficult times.
So, we had to turn to the UIF Portfolio to save the country's crisis in unprecedented times because it is only in times like these that we went to the one's we trust.
The UIF was our trusted entity and I agree with the Minister that everyone deserves to know apart from the negative publicity on the Covid-19 Ters that we
leveraged our social security institutions, particularly the Unemployment Insurance Fund, working with business and labour to create the Covid-19 Ters benefits, and to build a mass network to distribute the new benefits on an unprecedented scale.
The drafting of Covid-19 Health and Safety directions, as well as inspections and enforcement of the new regulations alongside existing Health and Safety regulations was also achieved as a product of our partnership at NEDLAC.
In Conclusion
We can only be proud Minister, DG and our social partners and colleagues that we were able to make some strides and considerable achievements even in the wake of the unprecedented reduced budgets as the pandemic and economic trends adversely impacted government revenues.
We can talk about all the negative publicity but the UIF showed up the strength of its Investment Portfolio during tough times and this is a very commendable effort not only for the Department but for the country as a whole. It is indeed a patriotic duty.
I know that I speak on behalf of the less fortunate in society, the beneficiaries of our services whose voice is never loud enough to be heard when I say, with benefit of hindsight I'm still battling to see through this crisis without the UIF interventions. We are where we are now, safer as a country with some jobs preserved and lives saved because of the UIF.
So, thank you to this most criticised but trusted ally in the UIF that we were able to live up to our commitment to save lives and preserve jobs.
Going forward Minister and colleagues, it will be important to create platforms such as these for our beneficiaries, the disenfranchised in our society whose lives were saved by our Interventions, the workers whose jobs were preserved, the employers who benefited from Covid19 Ters and the Health and Safety committees which continue to be our partners in compliance monitoring.
This will add more voices and convey meaningful messages and demonstrate the worth of our work.
On behalf of the Department, the UIF and all Entities, I want to thank you all for the refreshing presentations.
You will agree with me Minister and DG that, having been to SCOPA and back several times, a platform such as this one was very refreshing.
Thank you for empowering our work and I wish to also mention that this is the only normal we have to deal with and there will never be any other normal post the pandemic. So, stay safe and keep well.
Thank you so much.
© 2019 - The South African Department of Employment & Labour
