Africa
23 August 2006
South Africa will over the next two months be the focal point as
connoisseurs of efficiency descend to confer on ways of enhancing productivity
as being fundamental to prosperity of any nation.
Hosted by the National Productivity Institute (NPI), South Africaâs oldest
and foremost campaigner for productiveness experts from both Asia and the
African continent will impart skills on how individual productiveness promotes
economic development, employment creation, and poverty alleviation while
improving the quality of life.
The events form part of a build-up to this yearâs annual National
Productivity Month celebrations in October, which traditionally honour citizens
whose hard work collectively turns the country into a more productive and
competitive nation.
Kicking off the impressive line-up of events is a four day roundtable
conference of the NPI, the Pan African Productivity Association and the Asian
Productivity Organisation (APO) in Johannesburg between 28 to 31 August.
Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana is scheduled to deliver a keynote
address of the event that will be attended by foreign government envoys among
others.
Funded by the Japanese government, the venture endorses human resources
development as a vital cog in any productivity movement.
To show that it means business, the Japanese government has already
committed experts to reside in South Africa for the next five years honing the
skills of ordinary citizens on how to improve their individual
competitiveness.
It will be a first time whereby the APO enters into a partnership with its
African counterparts in the continent to promote activities based on an
individual nationâs own initiatives and self-reliant efforts.
The NPI, according to its executive director Dr Yvonne Dladla initiated the
partnership so as to fast-track productivity skills among South Africans and
the rest of the continent.
Established in 1968, the NPI has always strived to improve the standard of
living of all South Africans by instituting actions that will result in greater
effectiveness, improved efficiency and the better utilization of resources.
Research by the NPI has found that South Africaâs private sector
productivity has been registering a 3,2 percent annual increase since 1996.
According to it, South Africaâs economic performance supported by continued
productivity growth has helped catapult the countryâs position in world
competitiveness.
Quoting the World Competitiveness Yearbook 2005, the NPI says South Africa
has jumped three rankings to an overall 46th out of 60 countries, and
subscribes this to economic performance based on sustained productivity
growth.
It is also about appreciating the roles that every South African can play to
enhance the countryâs status as a global competitor.
Meanwhile the highlight of this yearâs celebrations will, as has now become
tradition, be the honouring of public and private sector enterprises that have
made a significant and productive improvement in their working environment.
The awards authorise the successful management practices and improvement
that the enterprises apply by paying attention to evidence of social and
economic benefits like job creation, empowerment, improved working conditions
and safety.
Since the inception of the awards 15 years ago, the NPI has recognised and
awarded more than 80 different enterprises both in the public and private
sectors for their efforts in improving and sustaining productivity.
These efforts have gone a long way towards contributing to the countryâs
economy and by extension improving the quality of life of various
communities.
Enquiries:
Mokgadi Pela
Cell: 082 808 2168
Issued by: Department of Labour
23 August 2006
