Honourable Chairperson
Honourable Deputy Chairperson
Ministers and Deputy Ministers
Honourable Members
Leaders of our social partners
Directors General
Esteemed guests
Ladies and gentlemen.
It is always a pleasure and an honour to address this august house on the occasion of our Budget Vote for the year ahead and beyond. The theme that runs through the speech was inspired, in the main, by the spirit and the letter of our Constitution, the Freedom Charter and the 2009 and 2014 ANC Election Manifestos.
It is of utmost significance that in June this year, we will be commemorating the 60th Anniversary of the Freedom Charter, the Road-Map set by the Congress of the People in 1955.
Honourable Chairperson, the Freedom Charter has to this day, remained the cornerstone of the ruling Party’s policies. It is also true that our labour laws are an expression of the Congress of the people’s declaration that ‘There shall be Work and Security’.
As we account to the Nation, we would like to frame our input by recalling the commitments we made in the previous Budget vote, giving an account of what we have done to execute these commitments, Highlighting challenges that we encountered in the process and, indicating steps that are being taken to address them, bragging about our milestone achievements to date and, pointing out what remains to be done.
The things we do represent how we are consolidating the gains of the National Democratic Revolution using the space that we have as the Department of Labour. The June Month, is a perfect reminder to all of us, that indeed we are free and that the rights we enjoy today, cannot be taken for granted as they came at a price. Recently we lost a number of struggle Icons of our movement and we also witnessed the re-burial of the icons of the workers struggle, Moses Kotane and JB Marks recently.
We pay homage to all our fallen heroes and heroines, we say to them, you will remain an inspiration to our work and may your souls rest in eternal peace.
As we celebrate the 21st Anniversary of Democracy in this country, it is almost impossible to ignore the contribution that the new labour market dispensation has made in terms of transforming the workplace.
At the risk of sounding too simplistic, there is some truth that when workers earn a living wage, it means they have reasonable disposable income to spend on goods and services produced by the economy; if the demand on goods and services rises, the entire supply change inevitably start experiencing increase in their output volumes, resulting in direct and indirect positive social and economic spin-offs given that our economy is by and large consumer-led.
The Unemployment Insurance Fund is one of the key elements of our social security safety net. The Training Lay-off scheme which is funded by the UIF, continue to be one of our flagship projects. The scheme is designed to assists companies in distress to mitigate the negative economic impact for workers who ordinarily would be retrenched.
Through the UIF-Funded active labour market interventions, the Labour Activation Programme is becoming a game-changer of note in the facilitation of skills enhancement.
We targeted to train 2000 UIF beneficiaries to prepare them for re-entry into the labour market, but instead, 3117 workers were supported and 600 of these trainees were re-absorbed in real jobs. 5104 were supported through training offered by accredited Sector Education and Training Authorities and, 450 aspiring entrepreneurs’ benefitted through tailored training programmes.
The fund ring-fenced 10 billion Rand for socially responsible investments where the target will be to support labour intensive projects. The funds are invested through the IDC and the PIC with a clear directive that this money must be targeted at labour intensive projects including the Presidential Infrastructure Projects. Whilst the numbers may not be where we would want them, we are however very pleased with progress so far. We are also pleased to report that the 29 million Rand that was allocated to Productivity South Africa for turn-around solutions continue to yield excellent results.
For example, 3891 jobs were saved through these interventions in the 2014/15 financial year.
We also acknowledge and thank the Department of Trade and Industry for its continued support for the Workplace Challenge Programme, its impact is invaluable.
Honourable Members, The Compensation Fund has continued to be one of the key priority areas for the Department. We fully understand the complexity of the challenges in the Compensation Fund and we are dealing with them.
In August 2014, the fund introduced a new electronic claims management system Umehluko, which cuts out the manual system which has been the main source of problems in the fund for many years. Umehluko has, within a relatively short space of time, brought about demonstrable improvements in the processes of assessing and paying claims, albeit with some teething problems.
As service providers and those who interact with the system become more familiar with how it works the teething problems will be reduced to a bare minimum.
We will keep the relevant NCOP Committees abreast of progress in this regard. Please bear with us as these things tend to take time.
You will recall Honourable Members that the Deputy President has been given the assignment to drive the engagement with the social partners to seek solutions to the new phenomena of prolonged strikes, strikes-related violence and investigating the Modalities of introducing a national minimum wage. Work has already commenced in this regard.
We conducted targeted inspections in all nine Provinces covering Farm and Domestic sectors during the 2014/15 period. All the inspections culminated into Provincial Izimbizo where we reported on the levels of compliance and interacted directly with workers with a view to understand their experiences.
Strengthening Inspection and Enforcement capacity of the Department is ongoing and remains one of our top priorities going forward. Let me at this stage thank National Treasury for heeding our request to reinstate the much needed resources to strengthen inspection.
In 2014 we said that we were seeking to finalise various Labour Law Amendments Bills. I am very pleased to report that indeed today we are proud to have in our statute book, revised and progressive Labour Relations Act; Basic Conditions of Employment Act, The Employment Equity Act and the landmark Public Employment Services Act.
Our Inspectorate and Enforcement and the CCMA will have to rise up to the occasion and become more vigilant in this respect. Our social partners must also become visible in ensuring that their constituencies comply with the labour laws. We must Honourable members dismiss the myth that Labour Brokers create jobs, they don’t, as they are merely intermediaries.
We used Izimbizo to brief workers on what the new labour law amendments mean for them. We also used various Media platforms to create awareness to the broader society. CCMA and the Department ran roadshows around the country to raise awareness of the new Labour legislative dispensation and it means for workers and employers alike.
In 2014 we said filling the post of the DG in the Department was our priority. Indeed we have found a Director General, Mr Thobile Lamati and he has been in the job for a couple of months now. Let me thank Mr Sam Morotoba who kept the Fort in an Acting capacity for at least 75% of the 2014/15 financial year.
Honourable Chairperson, Going forward we intend to tabling Amendments to three important pieces of Labour Legislations: The Unemployment Insurance Amendment Bill which at this stage is before Parliament, since it could not be finalised by the fourth Parliament is being resuscitated as we speak.
- The purpose of the proposed Amendments include; extending the period to draw unemployment benefits from eight to twelve months,
- extending the prescribed period within which a contributor can lodge a claim from six to twelve months,
- extending the scope of the fund to cover public servants, workers in the learnership programmes and,
- improving maternity benefits for Domestic workers, among other things.
The Occupational Health and Safety Amendment Bill which is currently being consulted on with the social partners in Nedlac will be tabled during this period. The purpose of the proposed Amendments is to align the Act with other labour legislations and to introduce provisions to regulate triangular relationships.
The Compensation of Occupational Injuries and Diseases Amendment Bill which is currently going through internal processes within the Department will also be tabled during this period. The purpose of the proposed Amendments is to align the Act with other labour legislations, extend coverage to domestic workers and, introduce provisions that provide a legal framework for the Fund to promote habilitation and rehabilitation programmes to facilitate the return to work objective.
Given the significance and the benefits that will accrue to workers once these proposed Amendments become Law, and in the spirit and the letter of the Ruling Party’s 2009 and 2014 Election Manifestos, we humbly request that you accord the consideration of these Bills a high degree of priority.
Other key priority areas going forward include:
- Improving the efficiency of the Compensation Fund.
- Rolling out the Self-help Kiosks to all Provinces in order to enhance service delivery.
- Continuing to build the ICT capacity of the Department.
- Ramping-up our performance in managing workplace conflict and dispute resolution.
- Advancing the capacity of the inspectorate and enforcement.
- Continuing to play a meaningful role in the international relations world of work.
I am pleased to report that South Africa has been asked.
Honourable Members, Ladies and gentlemen; Whilst this budget is inadequate, relative to what needs to be done, we will do the best we can. We would implore our social partners to continue their support of our endeavours to create a labour market environment conducive to investment, economic growth, job creation and decent work.
Let me thank the Deputy Minister of Labour, Inkosi Phathekile Holomisa, for his support during this time. Let me also thank the leadership of our social partners for their support and invaluable contributions and we call on you to continue lending a hand.
Thanks to the DG, his Management team and the entire staff for their efforts and support. Thanks to Members of this house, Chairperson of the Select Committee on Labour and Public Enterprises, for your invaluable support. More details of our progress on our 2014 priorities can be gleaned from our Annual Report and further details on other projects will be presented at Committee level.
In recognition of the country’s un-matched reputation in the field of labour market policy, we have been asked recently to lead the Africa Group on the debate around Convention 189. Needless to say that this debate, if not handled properly, carries the risk to roll-back key revolutionary gains of the workers world–wide. Again in recognition of the country’s experience, we have also been asked to assist African countries on how to craft legislations to give meaning to the ILO Conventions, a challenge which we have embraced unconditionally.
I would like to commend the 2 Billion 686 million and 867 thousand Rand budget of the Department of Labour to this house.
Together let's move South Africa forward. Ndithi, nangomoso Honourable members amaqobokazana angalal 'endleleni yazini kunyembekile!
