Your Excellency, the Executive Secretary of SADC
Your Excellencies Ministers and Ambassadors,
Distinguished Guests from the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and International Organisation for Migration (IOM),
Distinguished Senior Officials,
Members of the Media,
Ladies and Gentlemen:
We meet once again under the bright winter sunshine of the African Sky, in a land of peoples who have welcomed us with open arms and the most generous of our traditional African hospitality that we have become accustomed to and are proud of. I wish to express our heartfelt collective appreciation to our Sister, Minister Maria Helena Taipo, and through her to the government and people of Mozambique for their generosity.
Colleagues
The past year was again a challenging period in our efforts towards the regeneration of our continent. We continued to experience occasional setbacks as we march towards a new era in the evolution of our continent.
At the same time, however, there is no doubt that as a continent, we have begun to experience a rebirth. We have started a journey of renewal, of reclaiming our glorious past, of using that which is good and best in our collective experience, for our development and for our prosperous future.
SADC Member States have acknowledged that successful implementation of Employment and Labour Policies and Strategies will contribute to sustained high growth rates required to alleviate and ultimately eradicate high levels of poverty in the region. There is a need for positive growth stimulus packages in terms of policies and strategies that are, inter-alia, centred on the creation of sustainable employment and promotion of fair trade in goods and services to lift individuals and economies out of the crisis.
SADC Members States will continue to put in place intervention measures and initiatives to address the above challenges that are also in harmony with continental and global initiatives such as the AU Plan of Action on Employment and Poverty Alleviation in Africa and the ILO Decent Work Agenda.
SADC has engaged in several processes to establish critical institutions that are to serve as vehicles to realise our aspirations. In this regard:
During the year under review, measures were put in place to strengthen institutional frameworks to facilitate programme implementation:
Two Tripartite Technical Sub-Committees to address specific and specialized employment and labour issues have been constituted and operationalised and these are:
i) Technical Tripartite Sub-Committee of Experts on Social Protection;
ii) Technical tripartite Sub-Committee of Experts on Employment and Labour.
The established Tripartite Committees have enhanced the capacity of Member States to implement regional, continental and international programmes to which SADC has committed itself. In addition, this has further strengthened social dialogue at both national and regional levels.
With regard to policy issues in the world of work, the SADC Region continued to monitor the implementation of Policy instruments adopted in the Region. These policy Instruments include the following:
I) Policies, Priorities and Strategies on Employment and Labour in the SADC;
II) Charter of Fundamental Social Rights in SADC;
III) SADC Code of Conduct on Child Labour;
IV) Code of Conduct on HIV and AIDS and Employment;
V) Code on the Safe Use of Chemicals and;
VI) SADC Code on Social Security.
The main purpose of these policy documents is to enhance regional integration in the various aspects of labour and employment and to promote a coordinated approach to issues and challenges confronting the region. It is pleasing to report that during the year under review the majority of member States reported substantial progress in domesticating and implementing aspects of these policy documents in their national laws.
Ratification and Implementation of ILO Core Labour Standards
During the year under review, the SADC Secretariat and the ILO organised several short term training sessions involving tripartite partners in the Member States at the ILO Training Centre, in Turin, Italy. The training was focused on Social Dialogue and Labour Law Formulation. The main objective for such training in the SADC was to assist Member States in the domestication and implementation of the ILO Core Conventions and improve on labour standards in the Region.
It should be observed that out of the 15 Member States of SADC, 14 have ratified all eight ILO Core Conventions �" this translates into about 93 percent of total ratification. Although the Region has reached a near 100 percent ratification of the Core Conventions, full implementation of the ratified conventions by some member States still remains a challenge. In this regard, Ministers responsible for employment and labour have mandated the SADC Secretariat to mobilise resources including the necessary expertise from the ILO and other Partners to facilitate ratification, domestication and implementation of the Conventions. The ILO has offered support to address these challenges.
The Region continues to make progress towards the implementation of the ten projects in various aspects of safety and health at work that has been developed on a tripartite basis. The programme includes capacity building regarding Occupational Health and Safety Professionals in the Region which is a big challenge in most of our member States.
In collaboration with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), the Region continued pursuing activities aimed at implementing the regional project on labour migration. The overall objective of this project is to facilitate labour migration within the SADC region in a manner that will enhance national and regional development benefits, protect the fundamental rights of migrants and reduce irregular migration.
As you are aware, the AU Plan of Action on Employment and Poverty Alleviation in Africa identified eleven priority areas for implementation by Member States and Regional Economic Communities (RECs) such as SADC. These are structured for implementation at National, Regional and Continental levels and the following have been identified as the main functions of Regional Economic Communities (RECs) in this process:
Policy actions taken by the Region to facilitate employment creation and promotion of labour standards;
i) Highlights on Tripartite structures for implementing the AU Ouagadougou Plan of Action;
ii) Monitoring mechanisms put in place; and
iii) Constraints being experienced in the implementation process
The global economic and social crisis that started in 2008, has unleashed a deep and broad jobs crisis resulting in a growing social recession globally. Weak governance and inadequate regulation of finance markets of several industrialised countries are the origins of the crisis. However, the impact of the crisis is affecting developing countries harder especially those with limited resources to cushion the most vulnerable.
In response SADC Ministers and Social Partners at our meeting in Cape Town, South Africa during April 2009, adopted a SADC Declaration on the Global Financial and Economic Crisis.
It will be noted that the SADC Declaration is in line with the recently adopted ILO Document at the 98th Session of the ILO Conference “Recovery from the Crisis: A Global Jobs Pact.” The strategic objective of the Global Jobs Pact focuses on placing employment and labour market issues, social protection and respect for workers’ rights, at the centre of stimulus packages and other related policies aimed at confronting the crisis. I anticipate that this meeting would have developed a SADC work programme which will speak to the implementation of a Decent Work Agenda for SADC.
We are still faced with many challenges in order to make SADC a vibrant and effective instrument for the development of our continent. To achieve this we would have to dedicate more time and energy to the SADC. In this regard I would like to urge my colleague, Minister Taipo as incoming chair, to address the capacity constraints within the SADC Secretariat which hinder the effective implementation of our programmes. We have to place our individual national interests within the context of our continental and collective interests.
Your Excellencies,
It would be odd if I were to conclude my speech without referring to the impending FIFA 2010 World Cup. To those countries that have qualified, we look forward to receiving your teams and fanatic supporters on our shores and we wish you well. With six African teams participating in this spectacle we hope the trophy remains on African soil. We also invite the people of SADC to grace our shores in celebrating the FIFA 2010 World Cup with us.
Africa’s time has come. Ke Nako!
Finally, let me conclude by expressing hope that we will take our destiny into our own hands, creating for ourselves a continent of peace, democracy, prosperity and African and human solidarity. Together, let us move forward faster to build a life of hope for the children of Africa and the African Diaspora.
I thank you.
Issued by: Department of Labour
29 April 2010
