The Department of Employment and Labour is desperately trying to restructure itself to put some emphasis on job creation.
Since 2019, it has wasted millions of rand on failed projects. Now, the government has promised two million employment opportunities, which is something it has been trying to do over the past five years.
It is the season to make bold and extravagant promises, but I suspect no one should hold their breath. We had another entity (Productivity SA) under the department. It spent R104 million and claims it preserved 8 700 jobs. In other words, it didn’t even create job opportunities but assisted companies to preserve almost 9 000 jobs.
The reality is that those numbers cannot be tested. I am sure most of the jobs would have been kept in any event as they already existed. One wonders what the R104m was spent on and whether it really found its way into salaries.
The department would have us believe it is trying to enhance employability through training and providing skills. The Labour Department is not adept at training and skill advancement. The function should reside within the Department of Higher Education.
Sadly, the Department of Labour has spent almost R3 billion on capacity building. All this time, when the one entity within the department that is producing is going through budget cuts.
The workers of South Africa know and trust the Commission of Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA). If the budget cuts have to take place, it should be on curtailing expenditure of billions of rand on so-called capacity building within the department. One has only to disband supported employment enterprises, and the CCMA would be able to support the workers of South Africa in obtaining justice in every instance.
It is also important to note that the deputy minister of employment and labour acknowledged that the internal controls in governance were weak in the Unemployment Insurance Fund and the department. She said they needed to start focusing on internal audit controls and provide for an independent forensic capacity, enhancing risk management and ensuring compliance. It is about time, after almost 30 years of internal controls and governance weaknesses.
The government is spending so much on propping up parastatals that even if it wanted to try to restructure the department properly, it would not have the finances to do so. It would be a lot cheaper, quicker and easier to have a careful look at the labour legislation and the regulations in order to assess which of these is hindering small business and even large business in creating more employment.
About two years ago, President Cyril Ramaphosa promised a thorough investigation into what legislation was hampering job creation in the private sector. Apparently, the investigation has only just commenced and there is no end in sight about when a report will be produced.
Although I have many ideas on what legislation is acting as a handbrake to job creation, there are one or two pieces of “low hanging fruit”. For instance, I have said it many times that the uncoupling of small business from the bargaining councils would go a long way to creating two million jobs. The small business community would have a strong reason to at least create jobs if they felt that they weren’t hampered by the costs and administration of the various bargaining councils.
The department’s overall failure does not give us much faith in its ability to correct itself. It would take an overhaul and a new government to have the enormous change in attitude. The change in attitude would entail the realisation that the government was not there to create jobs but to create an environment conducive to job creation in the private sector.
The Department of Employment and Labour has seven labour programmes in public entities. All seven are dysfunctional. Of the three entities established to assist the department in meeting its mandate, only the CCMA is functional. A vital institution under this mandate is the National Economic Development and Labour Council.
Although there are problems, the entity could rise and shine under a new government. It is a unique concept whereby business, labour, the government and civil society could debate the structure problems within the labour environment.
As I’ve said before, the third entity Productivity SA has left us with the second worst productivity in the world. Either this needs to be disbanded and joined to the CCMA or it needs to be restructured.
I have hope for the future and I believe that under our seventh parliamentary dispensation in a democratic South Africa, we will see a turnaround in job creation.
* Michael Bagraim is a veteran labour lawyer, and a Democratic Alliance MP.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.
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