M Mdladlana on conference on promotion of productivity movement in
Africa

28 August 2006

The greatest challenge South Africa faces is to translate productivity into
more jobs, Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana said in Sandton, Johannesburg
today (Monday, 28 August 2006).

He was delivering the keynote address at the start of roundtable conference
for the promotion of the productivity movement in Africa.

“There is something wrong if you say productivity has increased yet you are
not able to translate this into more jobs. What our country needs is to create
jobs so as to alleviate poverty and halve unemployment by 2014,” he said.

The conference, which ends on Friday, is being hosted by the National
Productivity Institute (NPI) in conjunction with the Pan African Productivity
Association (PAPA) and the Asian Productivity Organisation (APO).

The Minister said another challenge was to empower youth by assisting them
with relevant skills and opportunities so that they can benefit from the
economy. He said he was worried at the huge number of unemployed youths –
something he described as a time bomb.

“By placing young people and their development in the broader context of
reconstruction and development, common developmental goals and a spirit of
co-operation and co-ordination are encouraged. It is also expected that by
building the productive capacity of our youth, whether through mentoring or
formal training, a spirit of entrepreneurship will flame a vibrant small to
medium micro enterprise sector,” Minister Mdladlana said.

The Minister paid tribute to the workers, adding that “their contribution to
economic growth is often unrecognised.”

He said “within the first decade of our democracy, the South African economy
grew by 3%. Since then, it has exceeded 4% per year, reaching 5% in 2005.
Similarly, for South Africa, achieving economic efficiency and greater
productivity, has acquired a new sense of urgency, and my department in support
of NPI, has taken on this challenge with renewed vigour and excitement.”

The Minister said part of addressing the skills gap in the country was
through Accelerated Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (AsgiSA), which
has contributed R370 billion over the next three years.

Enquiries:
Mokgadi Pela
Cell: 082 808 2168
Website: http://www.labour.gov.za

Issued by: Department of Labour
28 August 2006