Government is looking at passing special laws similar to those that were enforced during the Fifa 2010 Soccer World Cup hosted in South Africa to help facilitate the speedy delivery of the multibillion rand projects being planned, President Jacob Zuma told a Job Summit and Job Fair today.
Zuma said government’s plans to deliver on infrastructure were being hamstrung by bureaucratic humps and this calls for speedy action to deliver on the promise of jobs.
“We have a maze of restrictions and laws, and we think that these laws are not helping us to develop the economy!” he said instead some of the laws were becoming an obstacle to progress to delivering on the promised infrastructure projects.
The President was addressing the national official launch of the Department of Labour’s (DoL) Job Fair held in parallel with a provincial Jobs Summit held at the Zululand Chamber of Business Foundation (ZCBF) Community Park at Richards Bay, KwaZulu-Natal.
The DoL’s Job Fair initiative will provide an opportunity for work-seekers to meet prospective employers and other organisations or Government departments that can assist with their placement in different forms of employment or learning opportunities.
Zuma said South Africa with a large portion of its borders accessible to sea was yet to fully exploit a number of economic opportunities in tourism, export and maritime that are abound. He said with these opportunities there was nothing preventing South Africa to develop into a fully-fledged 24hour operation economic hub.
“We cannot be sleeping when mountains of opportunities abound,” he said.
Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant told the launch of the Job Fair that the initiative was designed to create and place job-seekers in sustainable jobs and push back frontiers of poverty.
“We urge every sector of society including business to focus on job creation. Hopelessness and not joblessness threatens our future. We want to give hope to those who are teetering on the verge of hopelessness,” she said.
Oliphant said Government had made a commitment to create decent employment through decent work and have set in motion a number of processes which include the amending of the Labour Relations and the Basic Condition of Employment Act. She said work was also progressing on the Public Employment Services Bill and Employment Equity amendment Act, part of a process aimed at promoting sound labour market and creation of decent employment.
The minister said all job creation initiatives would be carried out within the ambit of DoL Public Employment Services (PES).
PES is a branch of Department of Labour which plays an active role to assist the unemployed to find work and skills development opportunities, and act as a conduit by employers to find employees. The business unit uses electronic system, called the Employment Services system of South Africa (ESSA) to ensure that job-matching is realised.
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Government to speed-up delivery of infrastructure and jobs through special legislation
