The Jobs Parliament: Parliament should pass laws that create jobs 

9 July 2014

Note to Editors:  This extract is based on the speech delivered by the DA Parliamentary Leader, Mmusi Maimane MP, to the Cape Town Press Club today.  

Today, the DA sets out our agenda to make this Fifth Parliament the "Jobs Parliament" - a Parliament committed to creating laws which enable our economy to create more jobs.

To promote a Jobs Parliament, we will champion legislation that establishes the right conditions for economic growth and investment, that makes it easier to start a business, that fights corruption and that cuts red-tape.

Our agenda is therefore:

To scrutinize every piece of legislation, every regulation and every proclamation for whether it will enable or shed jobs;

To petition for the reconsideration of bills that are with the President for signature, if they will lead to job losses;

To turn the National Development Plan into implementable action steps for every committee of Parliament;

To do everything we possibly can to stop the Secrecy bill. If it is signed into law, we will not hesitate to petition the Constitutional Court for a review of the Act;

To introduce more frequent and more far-reaching Private Members Bills as alternatives to the governing party agenda.

This will initially include:

Replacing the National Key Points Act with the DA-proposed Protection of Crucial Infrastructure Bill;

Amending the procedure to appoint the National Director of Public Prosecutions, making it a Parliamentary function and not exclusively for the President to decide

Pushing for the adoption of the Prevention of Strike-related Violence Bill; and 

To fight corruption through proposing measures that will make government and state institutions open and transparent.

The fact that job killing bills were passed by the previous, Parliament is outrageous given our context of rising unemployment.

The DA has petitioned President Zuma to send job-killing these bills back to Parliament in terms of section 79 of the Constitution. They are:

The Labour Relations Amendment Bill:

The Bill creates a state-run employment agency, yet another potentially ineffectual state entity. This will hamper efforts to source real jobs for the South African people by removing the private sector incentive to do so.

It is nothing more than an ANC ploy to appease unions.

The Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Amendment Bill:

This allows the state to acquire an automatic minimum 20 per cent free carried interest in all new mining exploration and production rights, up to 100% free carried interest. It is a damning blow to investor confidence in the mining sector, and will lead to job losses as investment retracts.

The Private Security Industry Regulation Amendment Bill:

This bill contains amendments that will allow the Minister of Police discretion to expropriate more than 51% of Private Security Companies - if owned by foreign nationals.The Bill not only risks the safety and security of millions of people around South Africa, but also the livelihoods of thousands employed in the industry. 

The DA was elected to Parliament this year - with more support than ever before - on the basis of our central election message "Together for Change. Together for Jobs".

The Jobs Parliament is how we deliver on this promise to the South African people.

Issued by the DA, July 9 2014

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