Speech by the Deputy Minister of Labour, Nkosi Phathekile Holomisa (Ah! Dilizintaba), on the occasion of the 2016/17 Budget Vote of the Department of Labour tabled in the National Assembly, Cape Town
Honourable Chairperson,
Honourable Minister of Labour,
Honourable Ministers and Deputy Ministers,
Honourable Members,
Leaders of our Social Partners,
Directors General,
Esteemed guests,
Fellow South Africans,
Ladies and gentlemen,
It is a singular honour for me to once more stand before you on the occasion of the presentation of our budget vote to this august house. Ndima apha ndinelunda ngendima enkulu edlalwa leli Sebe ekukhuliseni uqoqosho, ekulolongeni izakhono nasekukhuseleni amalungelo abasebenzi. Le migudu ijolise ekubeni kudaleke amathuba emisebenzi, ingakumbi ukuhlangabezana nolutsha kwintswelo-ngqesho egqubayo, ndawonye nokuphucula impilo kubantu boMzantsi Afrika jikelele.
As a governing party, as a department, we recognise our role of regulating the labour market, to ensure stability, and a vibrant economy that yields tangible benefits, including job creation. The commitments that we are making today, are aimed at improving the socio economic conditions of our people, be it in urban areas, farm dwellings, townships and far flung rural settings. For people to continue to have confidence in our government, regardless of where they live, we need to demonstrate that we are a caring government, which places a high premium on their day to day needs, their trials and tribulations, their hopes and aspirations.
Honourable Chairperson, one of my responsibilities in the department is to ensure that all our offices have the necessary infrastructure, human resources and tools of trade to deliver services to the public. In my visits to the Provincial Offices and Labour Centres throughout the country, I have witnessed the conditions under which our Client Service Officers work.
I have witnessed with my own eyes the difficulties that our offices have in meeting the public expectations as a result of inadequate human resources, especially at the front line offices and in our inspectorate, where we interact directly with members of the public.
Honourable Members, since the dawn of democracy, government has underscored rightfully, the need to increase access to public services and the Department of Labour is no exception. Whilst we have managed to achieve this, through the building of new Labour Centres, introducing Satellite Offices and visiting points; it is also true that concomitant human and financial resources are required to ensure we deliver a professional and effective service to our people on the ground. Another area of focus for the department going forward, is that of Inspectorate and Enforcement Services (IES).
Needless to say it would be foolhardy and naïve for us to enact progressive laws that are aimed at transforming our work places, if we do not have the requisite capacity to inspect and enforce the laws, thereby ensuring compliance. Our Inspectorate and Enforcement Service is receiving attention precisely to increase its capacity, in order to hold truant employers accountable and to protect workers who are susceptible to employer malpractices and the violation of our labour laws.
Ladies and Gentlemen, protection of vulnerable workers and promotion of decent work, requires the state to have officials, who will ensure that the law is upheld and complied with. If this number is inadequate, as is the case presently, the state in its quest to enforce these laws will not have the desired impact.
The dwindling financial resources as highlighted by the Minister do place an undue pressure on our officials, as the demand for our services increases on a daily basis.
Honourable Members, it is against this background, that as a department, we record and highlight the incongruence of the scope of our work, the set of objectives, versus the financial envelope to realise them. We remain hopeful that the Committee responsible for allocating budgets will consider and confront these realities over time. However, we are determined and resolute that, with the allocation at hand we shall, within the set parameters, make meaningful strides to improve the working conditions of officials in the frontline.
I thought Honourable Chairperson, it would be important to preface my speech with this reality.
I am, therefore, particularly pleased to share with you our achievements as per the commitments we made last year. Firstly, over the last financial year, we have improved the overall performance of the department from the dismal 42% reported in our 2014/15 annual report.
I am happy to indicate that, at least for the 2015/16 financial year, we are poised to improve that to just around 62%. Secondly, we are poised to receive an unqualified audit finding from the Auditor General. This is a clear indication of the extent to which we have improved our performance information and financial management systems. There is, of course, room for improvement.
Our ultimate goal in the outer years is to achieve a clean audit. Credit must go to our officials and the oversight structures for keeping management in check and for ensuring that we improve our systems and internal controls.
Honourable Chairperson, it is common cause that our economy is facing serious strains due to negative global and local economic factors. Each one of us in this house, every member of society and every sector of our economy, is as concerned about the state of our economy as we all are. Those of us in the world of work have to use the labour market instruments at our disposal wisely and monitor trends and indicators closely.
To this end, Productivity South Africa's efforts to improve the employment and re-employment prospects of employees facing retrenchments, as well as support for initiatives aimed at preventing job losses, is commendable. Productivity SA through the Turnaround Solutions in partnership with the Unemployment Insurance Fund, as well as the Workplace Challenges Programme of the Department of Trade and Industry, have done sterling work to intervene and provide sustainable solutions to a number of entities and organisations in distress this last financial year.
Productivity SA promotes employment growth and workplace productivity, thereby contributing to South Africa's socio-economic development and economic efficiencies. Its achievements in the 2015/16 financial year include supporting 4,872 Small Micro and Medium Enterprises (SMMEs), 934 Workers and 205 Managers with Productivity Improvements Solutions. This has been achieved through exposing them to workshops focusing on Business Start-up, Business Performance Improvement, Coaching and After-care, as well as Virtual Incubation.
Honourable Chairperson, it is common knowledge that social protection plays a very important role in fighting poverty. Our social protection strategies are a crucial element of our government's effective response to adverse economic conditions. These strategies are aimed at addressing not only vulnerabilities caused or exacerbated by our slow economic growth, but also increasing preparedness for future uncertainty.
The Compensation Fund, for instance, plays a vital role in cushioning workers from the after effects of occupational injuries and diseases. It is, therefore, in the best interests of everyone that this Fund provides the best care possible to injured workers and those who are diseased. I am pleased to announce that the Action Plan that has been implemented by the Fund in the last financial year is starting to show positive results.
For the financial year ending 31 March 2016, the Compensation Fund paid R 2,8 billion in medical claims compared to R1,3 billion in 2014/15, R137 million in compensation benefits compared to the R 103 million paid in the previous year and R968 million in pension payments compared to R671 million paid in the preceding year.
Significant progress is also being made in ensuring that we deal with claims received within a short period of time. Over the next Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) period, the Fund has set itself the target to process and authorise payment of claims within 60 days of their receipt. Whilst we have set a time-frame of 60 days, we are employing systems and processes that will ensure that we reduce this turnaround time even further.
Ladies and gentlemen, It has been proven world-wide that in times of slow economic growth, public employment programs work better, at not only equipping the unemployed with skills to survive, but also to afford them the opportunity to better their prospects of finding employment. Our public employment services programmes are beginning to give hope to the unemployed through the vocational counseling services provided by the department. During the past year 634 504 work seekers were registered on the department's database, and more than 208 861 were provided with employment counselling and advice by our employment counsellors.
During 2015/16 financial year this programme has ensured that 10 927 work seekers were placed in employment.
Honourable Chairperson, persons with disabilities continue to experience discrimination and are least likely to get employment opportunities in the labour market. An amount of R135 thousand and 50 million rand was allocated to the Supported Employment Enterprises in order to accelerate employment opportunities for persons with disabilities during 2015/16. These Enterprises have, despite numerous challenges, been able to achieve a Gross Profit Margin of 33% from sales revenue for the 2015/16 financial year and also improved their Supply Chain Management processes.
Honourable Chairperson, it is worth mentioning that our department plays a very important and catalytic role internationally on matters relating to the world of work. South Africa is counted as one of the key contributors and enablers to the programmes of the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
Honourable Chairperson, I'm proud to share with this house that South Africa, in the person of the Minister of Labour, Mrs Nelisiwe Oliphant, has been asked to preside over the International Labour Conference scheduled to take place in Geneva, Switzerland, next month.
This is a show of confidence in our ability as a nation not only to represent the interests of our country but those of the continent as a whole.
Honourable Members, our government is a caring government and no amount of hoodwinking or misrepresentation, will detract from that. Our track record speaks for itself. Siyaqhuba!!
One of the benefits of this democracy is the right accorded to people to march and assemble in front of Parliament. Over the last few weeks we have had to contend with an unfortunate situation, where senior citizens have been at the receiving end of irresponsible leadership actions, that saw them camp in front of Parliament to demand pension fund monies and unemployment insurance benefits.
Their so called leaders supposedly did this to gain public sympathy even though they knew from the onset, that their actions were in contravention of the agreement concluded with them. These leaders want to coerce us to use workers’ money recklessly without following legally prescribed processes. Whilst we do sympathise with them and are willing to lend an ear, we cannot entertain that.
We agreed with the leadership of the ex-employees from the Eastern Cape that the process of verification of their claims would have been concluded by the 5th of May 2016, on condition that everyone had submitted the necessary application for benefits.
The processing and payment of benefits to the qualifying claimants has commenced and some have already been paid. It is, therefore, regrettable and simply mischievous for some to cast aspersions on the integrity of the department based on unfounded and malicious reports in the public domain.
Mhlali-ngaphambili obekekileyo, xa ndizakwehla, manditsho ndithi ucuntsu akafani noshici. Nangona oko sikunikiweyo kungonelanga, sizakuzama ukukusebenzisa ngobulali obukhulu, ukuze abantu bakuthi baqhubekeke bexhamla umvuzo wenkululeko. Nathi siyathembisa ukuba siyakuthi sizilungise iziphene ezikhokelele ekubeni singaphumeleli ekwenzeni konke ebesizimisele ukukwenza. Ngoko ke ndingavuya ukuba olu hlahlo-lwabiwo mali lungafumana inkxaso yawo onke amaQela.
Mhlali ngaphambili obekekileyo, ndivumele ndidlulise umbulelo ongazenzisiyo kuMphathiswa weli Sebe ngenxaso nangentsebenziswano engummangaliso endiyifumanayo kuye njengeSekela lakhe? KwiKomiti ejongene nezabasebenzi ekhokelwa nguMamZangwa sithi, "Ngxatsho ke, tshotsho nibekho". Okokugqibela ndithanda ukubulela uMlawuli-Jikelele kunye nawo onke amagosa nabasebenzi beSebe ngenkxaso nangendlela abawuthathela phezulu ngayo umsebenzi wabo.
Ndibamba ngazibini nangenkxaso endiyifumana lusapho lwam lukhokelwe nguMamTipha, Ah! Nosimanye.
UMphathiswa sele ewenzile umkhomba ndlela, ngoko ke ikhwelo lityala. Masingen'entsimini!
Maz'enethole!
