Address by President Cyril Ramaphosa at the Annual Labour School convened by NEDLAC

1 February 2021

Programme Director,
Minister of Employment and Labour, ThulasNxesi,
Overall Convener of OrganisedLabour, Bheki Ntshalintshali,
Leadership of COSATU, FEDUSA and NACTU,
Comrades and Friends,
The 2021 Annual NEDLAC Labour School is taking place under extraordinary circumstances.

The world is in turmoil as it continues to confront the coronavirus pandemic and its effects on the lives of people across the world.

This disease will, to a great extent, continue to define the year ahead, just as it defined the year that has past.

It will have an impact on almost every area of our lives.

Already it has caused much suffering and hardship, particularly among the poor and working class.

In South Africa – and indeed in other parts of the world – the working class and the poor are disproportionately vulnerable to infection and have less access to quality health care.

They have fewer resources to withstand the huge impact of the pandemic on incomes and are the first to lose jobs.

The longer the pandemic continues, the greater the damage to people’s livelihoods and the longer the hardship will endure.

Our priority, as a country and as all the constituencies in NEDLAC, must be to focus with single-minded determination on bringing an end to the pandemic as quickly as possible.

From the outset of this pandemic, some people have presented our response as a clear choice between containing infections and keeping our economy alive.

We have found that this is a false choice.

The restrictions we have had to put in place to flatten the curve have had a severe impact on the economy and employment. But these effects would have been far worse and probably would have lasted much longer if we had allowed the pandemic to decimate our population – not to mention the unbearable human cost.

And so, we have had to maintain a difficult balance.

We have had to contain infections as much as possible while trying to limit the disruption to the economy.

We have done so knowing that the effects of an uncontrolled pandemic would not only cause great human suffering now, but could potentially cause our economy irreversible damage.

That is why we need to overcome this pandemic – not only to save lives but also to protect livelihoods, now and into the future.

We are now entering a new phase in our fight against the pandemic.

Later today, South Africa will receive its first consignment of COVID-19 vaccines from the Serum Institute in India.

This will mark the beginning of a mass vaccination campaign that will be the most ambitious and extensive in our country’s history. It will reach all parts of the country and will be phased to ensure that those most in need are prioritised.

The first vaccines to arrive will be provided to health care workers. The second phase will include essential workers, teachers, the elderly and those with co-morbidities. The third phase will then include other adults in the population.

A comprehensive rollout strategy and an accompanying logistical framework will need to be implemented in partnership with labour, the private sector, civil society, traditional leadership, the religious sector and others.

Each part of society will need to define its contribution to this effort.

The role of organisedlabour will be critical in reaching millions of workers, ensuring that they are informed and empowered, and that they are able to access vaccines at the appropriate time.

Many of those who have been prioritised in the first two phases – health care and other frontline workers in particular – are members of the unions represented here. It is vital that they are ready to be vaccinated and that the doses reach them without undue delay.

We have had engagements with employers in a number of sectors who have committed to working with the health authorities to ensure that their employees are vaccinated. They need to bring organisedlabour on board so that there is proper consultation, effective coordination and speedy implementation.

It is vital that the vaccination programme is a society-wide campaign, in which everyone is involved and no-one is left behind.

We are aware of concerns in some quarters that government has not been sufficiently transparent about these efforts. Organisedlabour has been prominent among those in society who, quite correctly, have sought answers from government on the details of the vaccination plan.

We accept these concerns as valid, and are making every effort to not only improve communication, but to ensure that all social partners are more directly involved in the development and implementation of the plan.

While the scale and complexity of this undertaking is far greater than anything we have done before, we nevertheless have ample experience of working together as a society to overcome difficult challenges.

Alongside the vaccination programme, we will need to intensify our public health response to the disease. The basic measures that we have all become so familiar with – like mask wearing and social distancing – will need to continue.

Even as more and more people are vaccinated, we will have to continue with every instrument in our coronavirus toolbox to contain infections.

We will need to continue to strengthen our health care system to ensure that it is ready for further possible surges in infections.

An important part of our response is ensuring that workplaces are safe and healthy.

Not only must we insist that every workplace meets all the standard health and safety regulations, but we must also mobilise employers to implement all the necessary measures to prevent COVID-19 infections.

If government, labour and business work together to contain infections in the workplace, we will be in a better position to keep businesses open and that much closer to overcoming the pandemic.

At the same time, we need to proceed with the vital work to rebuild our economy, recover the jobs that have been lost, and set our country on a new path of faster, more inclusive growth.

In October last year, we announced the Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan.

This plan was made possible through the intensive and detailed engagements that we had at NEDLAC over several months and was based on the common ground that we were able to establish.

The creation of jobs is at the centre of the recovery plan.

First, we must get our people back into the jobs they lost in the pandemic. Second, we must create more employment opportunities for those who were unemployed before the pandemic or who had given up looking for work.

We have identified priority interventions based on their capacity to create employment on a large scale and within a relatively short time.

We have embarked on a massive infrastructure build and maintenance programme that will achieve several economic objectives at once.

It will stimulate economic activity and will create jobs in construction and related sectors.

It will provide much-needed economic infrastructure, contributing to the overall capacity of our economy and the competitiveness of our businesses. It will also provide social infrastructure like housing and student accommodation, which will improve people’s living conditions.

Importantly, we will use this infrastructure drive to promote localisation and industrialisation through measures to procure materials and services from South African suppliers.

We are also working closely with financial institutions and multilateral development banks to find innovative ways of funding this infrastructure investment so that it is not solely reliant on the fiscus.

Given the severe constraints on public finances, we need to use every available mechanism to remove the obstacles to private sector investment in our economy.

It is for this reason that we are moving with urgency to implement key economic reforms, remove regulatory barriers that increase costs and create inefficiencies in the economy, secure our energy supply, and free up digital infrastructure.

We are also proceeding with the development of master plans in those sectors of the economy with the greatest potential for growth and job creation.

These master plans are examples of social compacting in action, with all key stakeholders working together to promote the development of the industry.

Even as these actions start to gather momentum and to create employment, there is a pressing need right now for employment opportunities.

The Presidential Employment Stimulus serves this purpose, providing tens of thousands of work opportunities across government departments and public entities.

Since its launch late last year, around 260,000 people have begun work in various programmes, ranging from schools to environmental management, from agriculture to the arts.

As we implement the Recovery Plan and as we work to contain the pandemic, we are confronted with the reality that there are millions of South Africans who are still faced with hunger and hardship.

The effects of the pandemic continue to be felt by households, by workers and by businesses. There have been many calls for government to continue its support by extending programmes like the Special COVID-19 Grant and the special UIF TERS scheme.

We have to balance this clear and pressing need with the imperative to ensure the sustainable and responsible management of our severely constrained public resources.

We remain committed to working with our social partners and all stakeholders to resolve these issues and ensure that livelihoods are protected as our economic recovery takes effect.

As we prepare for the year ahead, we are in no doubt about the extent of the challenges we must overcome.

We are in circumstances that are far more dire than any we have had to confront since the advent of our democracy.

Yet, even in the midst of despair, we can find encouragement in the proven ability of South Africans from all walks of life and from all parts of society to work together to pursue a common goal.

As social partners, as the constituencies in NEDLAC, we have demonstrated time and again the value of engagement, cooperation and, most importantly, united action.

Now is the time to work together, with urgency and with determination to restore our country to health and to set it on a path of inclusive and sustainable prosperity.

With these words, I thank you once again for inviting me, and I wish you fruitful deliberations.

I thank you.

Issued by the Presidency, 1 February 2021