In the historic general election of 1994 the ANC ran a poster which simply said "Jobs, Jobs, Jobs". Seventeen years later it is still the central question in our politics. It really is the key to everything else.
If you have a job you can provide for yourself and your loved ones. You also avoid the pitfalls of idleness, which are many. How many young unemployed men fall prey to gangs and drugs because they loiter on the streets?
Lack of purpose contributes to risk-taking in casual sex that leads to soaring HIV/Aids and teenage pregnancy. People are desperate for work. They will travel long distances and stand in long queues for the mere possibility of a job, even if it is low-paying and menial.
So we need to ponder long and hard why South Africa has the lowest recorded employment rate in the world. According to Ann Bernstein of the Centre for Development and Enterprise, only 41% of South Africans between the ages of 16 and 64 have any kind of job.
This compares to the 60% employment rate that is roughly the global norm. We should have about six million more jobs than the 13 million jobs that exist today in our country. It's very clear that this is because of our job-crushing labour laws.
Three years ago Jacob Zuma said that flexibility was needed otherwise tight regulations meant "you count out the poorest of the poor and they remain there". He was forced to backtrack after protests by labour federation COSATU.
COSATU has also attacked Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan for suggesting recently that labour laws need to be relaxed to reach the targeted five million jobs by 2020. Trevor Manuel has concurred with Gordhan, saying that "nothing should get in the way of job creation."
It is therefore inexplicable that Gordhan's proposed Youth Wage Subsidy has been delayed so long because of COSATU opposition. This policy was first floated in October 2009, and announced by President Zuma on 11 February 2010. It is supposed to be implemented by April 2012, but even this date may not be met.
According to Treasury, the subsidy would benefit 423 000 young job seekers over a three month period, at a cost of R5 billion. If it had been implemented in April last year, almost 200 000 young people would have benefited and more than 80 000 net new jobs been created.
COSATU misses the fact that even the lowliest job is but the first step on a ladder towards improvement. It teaches work discipline and gives a track record that assists in finding better employment. Yes, we would all dearly love everyone to have a rewarding "decent" job. But in the real world this can only be done over time.
Poor people are denied their inherent right to work because of regulations and minimum wages that deter businesses from hiring. These need to be reviewed urgently, and exemptions granted on a mass basis. If we don't do this, we risk a dependency-syndrome as people become permanently reliant on state grants.
The labour barons are holding our country hostage on this issue and should be challenged. It is high time that the unemployed staged a protest march on COSATU offices.
Jack Bloom MPL, is DA Leader in the Gauteng Legislature. This article first appeared in The Citizen.
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