Job creation: The ANC comes around, now the executive must declare their support
The Democratic Alliance (DA) welcomes indications that the ANC government has changed its position on job creation by apparently prioritising new jobs over the negotiation of conditions of employment.
Now we call on President Jacob Zuma and the economic ministers to indicate their support for the new position outlined yesterday by Gwede Mantashe, the ANC's Secretary General. In particular, Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies must provide clarity on whether his views on "decent work" have changed. The Minister has repeatedly committed our country to "decent work", but in the light of yesterday's statement he needs to explain how he sees the difference between his "decent jobs" and Mr Mantashe's jobs that "need not necessarily be decent".
Mr Mantashe was also quoted as saying "Our view is that jobs must be created. Once created, then those people can engage on conditions of employment. If you first negotiate conditions before you are in the job then you are putting the cart before the horse". Such a statement is a radical departure from the ANC's position in support of centrally bargained wages and other restrictive measures and, if translated into policy, would require a dramatic overhaul of our existing labour laws.
Our unemployment rate is the highest amongst emerging markets. Last year 6,4 million South Africans were unable to find work, or had given up looking. Unemployment is a national crisis but, up until now, the ANC has not had the stomach to ease up our restrictive labour laws and risk offending their "alliance partners". But without tackling fundamental reform of our labour legislation, plans such as the New Growth Path and the Industrial Policy Action Plan amount to tinkering at the edges of the economy.
Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, "If a man doesn't have a job or an income, he has neither life nor liberty nor the possibility for the pursuit of happiness. He merely exists." The ANC Secretary General appears to have finally come around to this harsh reality. Now the President, Minister Davies, and the other economic ministers need to declare their support for the prioritisation of job creation over negotiations on working conditions.
Statement issued by Tim Harris, MP, Democratic Alliance Shadow Minister of Trade and Industry, January 18 2011
Click here to sign up to receive our free daily headline email newsletter
