Protocol
It is our pleasure to join the Bata/Toughees family wherein we are celebrating this organisation’s fifty years of existence but also welcoming the re-launch of this factory here in Loskop.
Programme director, fifty years is a long time. In terms of human beings, a person who has reached a fifty year milestone is expected not only to be wise but to have accomplished a lot in his or her chosen field of endeavour.
Likewise, a company that has reached a fifty year milestone is expected to be stable and to have contributed meaningfully in its particular sector and the economy in general.
It is, indeed, our pleasure to confirm that Bata/Toughees have achieved a lot, became a famous brand and, in the process, has and continues to contribute to the growth of our country’s economy.
This commitment to the growth of our economy is given practical expression through today’s re-launch of the Bata/Toughees Loskop modernised factory.
Programme director, it is a well-known and openly-stated objective of our government to transform our economy so that it can be competitive but can also help fast-track our social transformation project.
Critical to this social transformation project is fighting unemployment and ensuring that there is economic-equality. Indeed, scholars have held that our hard won freedom will remain a pie in the sky if it does not find physical expression in the betterment of our people’s lives.
Pointedly, this economic equality must be visible throughout our country. Prosperity, our government holds, is for all and not only those who reside in urban areas.
As government we are extremely concerned about the high levels of unemployment. The unemployment figures for KwaZulu-Natal have declined to 19,7 percent from 20,9 percent in the previous quarter. The number of unemployed persons declined from 645 000 in the last quarter to 580 000 during the third quarter.
While we are pleased about the decline, we remain worried that the number of discouraged work seekers has increased to 563 000 from 504 000 in the past quarter. Therefore, if we were to use the expanded definition of unemployment, the rate of unemployment would have risen from 37 percent in the second quarter to 38,5 percent in the third quarter. If we were to assume that each of the 580 000 unemployed was a sole breadwinner, this would mean that more than half a million families do not have someone to take care of them. What this further means is that government must expend even more money on grants in order to ameliorate the dire situation. The net effect of this is that funds set aside for service delivery must be diverted in order to satisfy the urgent needs of our unemployed people.
We are pleased that Bata/Toughees employs close to 500 people on a permanent basis and further 400 on a casual basis or seasonally. These numbers may seem modest but we are fully aware of what this means for those to whom this job means a difference between going to bed with an empty stomach. We urge those who are in the employ of this organisation to keep their end of the bargain and deliver as expected.
Programme director, while we have to grapple with this situation, we are aware that we need to remain globally-competitive in order to attract in a period where investors are circumspect to extend themselves because of the recent global economic downturn.
In the year 2009, the year of the recession, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD’s) World Investment Report said Global FDI flows have been severely affected worldwide by the economicand financial crisis. Inflows are expected to fall from $1.7 trillion to below$1.2 trillion in 2009, with a slow recovery in 2010 (to a level up to $1.4trillion) and gaining momentum in 2011 (approaching $1.8 trillion). It seems that their predictions were also overly optimistic about the recovery prospects because this year’s report suggests that the: Global foreign direct investment (FDI) witnessed a modest, but unevenrecovery in the first half of 2010. This sparks some cautious optimism for FDIprospects in the short run and for a full recovery further on. UNCTADexpects global inflows to reach more than $1.2 trillion in 2010, rise furtherto $1.3–1.5 trillion in 2011, and head towards $1.6–2 trillion in 2012.However, these FDI prospects are fraught with risks and uncertainties,including the fragility of the global economic recovery.
However, on a positive note the 2010 report also said, developing and transition economies attracted half of global FDI inflows,and invested one quarter of global FDI outflows. They are leading the FDIrecovery and will remain favourable destinations for FDI.
This, programme director, means that while we have been severely affected by the global economic downturn, we are best positioned to benefit from the investments as a result, among others, of the returns promised by our economies.
This is a chance we, as developing economies, dare not lose and the investment by Bata/Toughees in a factory here in Loskop gives us impetus to go all out and scout for even more investments into our province. This also means that we appreciate the confidence shown Bata/Toughees in the resilience and future prospects of our economy.
We are pleased to note that even at the height of the recession, Bata/Toughees did not lay off as many of its employees as the situation warranted. We wish to convey our gratitude to Bata/Toughees internationally who put in shock absorbers in order to ensure that the lay offs were not as bad as they could have been.
Critically, we applaud the fact that this factory has seen increased production over the years. This puts paid to the myth that it is only those factories in big cities that are productive. We believe that the hinterland is the place which, within our province, will become the cradle of our economic growth. Any serious investor must come and invest in these areas.
In conclusion, we wish to re-iterate the fact that as government we are always willing to offer assistance to all our sectors with a view to helping grow the economy. It would please us no ends if, for example, the international headquarters of Bata/Toughees were to relocate into KwaZulu-Natal because of both our competitive and comparative advantages. KwaZulu-Natal is the next global economic hub and it is those who come in now who will reap the choicest benefits. We wish the Bata/Toughees a wonderful and busy festive season in preparation for the opening of schools next year.
I thank you.
