97th Session of the International Labour Conference: Statement by the South African Minister of Labour, MMS Mdladlana on decent work: Some strategic challenges ahead: Promoting balance and equity

Thank you Mr President,
Honourable Ministers
Distinguished delegates
Ladies and Gentlemen

In his report, Working out of poverty, Juan Somavia highlighted that "Poverty is a nightmare. It is a vicious circle of poor health, reduced working capacity, low productivity and shortened life expectancy". He continued by emphasising "for families, poverty is a trap. It leads to inadequate schooling, low skills, insecure income, early parenthood, ill health and early death". And he concluded, for societies, poverty is a curse".

One thousand eight hundred and twenty seven (1827) days ago, President Thabo Mbeki addressed this august house and warned us that "even those cast into the darkness, amongst whom there is weeping and gnashing of teeth, are also capable of speaking... and when they do speak in the end, on all continents, including where we are meeting, they will proclaim - we are the hope of the world, free at last of the curse of poverty".

Chairperson, let me acknowledge the fact this report is written in the midst of global financial turmoil, soaring food and fuel prices and economic downturn. In our reflections, the consequence of this crisis is observed in the attitude of the poor. The poor are beginning to be restless. This restlessness is reflective of deep-seated aspirations of people for fair opportunities. It is reflected in their cry against ineffective economic and social systems, the inadequate political responses, the bankrupt policies, marginalisation and insufficient support.

Indeed, we have seen how in the past decade, as globalisation brought faster growth and better living conditions to some parts of the world, the majority of the poor countries have become increasingly marginalised, sinking more and more into poverty.

They proclaim, as an intolerable burden to live in daily fear of retrenchment. As President Mbeki said "being equally unjust that the rights of the working person should be threatened, because there is another at the factory gate who is ready to take his place on the factory floor, because he or she is ready to accept lower wages, intolerable working conditions, casualisation of labour and non-implementation of the standards of the ILO".

In efforts to chart the way forward in dealing with these challenges, we welcome the Director General's report and believe that it provides some strategic perspective on the challenges lying ahead for our decent work agenda campaign.

The challenges posed by the financial turmoil being experienced in the international capital movements as well as other domestic economic challenges we are faced with, are indeed enormous. This situation further compounds our development challenges which make our decent work objective even more daunting. For many countries in my continent, Africa and other middle-income economies, growth has been observed but has disappointingly not translated into more and better jobs, reduced inequality and lower poverty levels. In fact, it is often argued that the growth trajectory chosen has led to these undesirable consequences. In other words, growth under finance-driven globalisation has led to these inequalities and poverty. The total reliance on market forces has ensured little, if any, form of distribution of resources for development or social well-being.

The fundamental question that we need to ask ourselves is: how do we achieve decent work in the context of huge inequalities and high levels of poverty particularly in Africa? This situation has unfortunately lent credence to those determined to undermine the necessary securities in our labour markets by calling for lower wages, exploiting the vulnerability of our workers. "We must counter the false argument that the imposition of deregulation and flexible employment policies will set people on the path to sustainable development and create appropriate levels of social well-being coupled with more and better jobs. It is a myth".

We must remember that the poor and the unemployed are capable of speaking; of revolting against the policies that we espouse. The poor are beginning not to trust and believe their leaders. I have seen their re-action in South Africa. Today they are fighting amongst themselves - tomorrow it will be our turn all over the world - when they proclaim ... WE ARE TIRED OF SEMINARS, CONFERENCES, SUMMITS AND SPEECHES.

This I have seen in South Africa where we have both the first and the third world. The first world is rich, predominantly white and has all the first world infrastructure one may think of. This is the first world we call the first economy

The third world is poor, living in squalor, the majority unemployed, uneducated and unskilled and predominantly black. Persons from neighbouring countries arrive in South Africa to improve their lives. Unfortunately, when they get to South Africa they stay among the poor, live in squalor with them. Some come with entrepreneurial skills; some are adventurous, innovative and creative. Those who come to live and stay in these black communities are black.

Whilst those who are in the first world and those who are rich compete about their investments and profits - people in the third world economy compete about poverty as a result they become jealous of each other - thinking that the newcomer is the cause and reason for their poverty.

It must be noted though that there are thousands of migrant workers in South Africa. These were there for many years. They come from Mozambique, Lesotho, Swaziland, Zimbabwe etc. They never stayed in refugee camps and even now we still do not believe that we must create or establish refugee camps. We believe that Africans must be integrated with other Africans. What we need is an awareness campaign teaching our people about Africanism - Africans loving each other, about the pride of being an African and never to kill, main or hurt another African for whatever reason.

Truly and honestly, as South Africans we were immensely embarrassed by the attacks of fellow brothers and sisters. It was and remains a very humiliating experience to see a black man burning, burnt by other black brothers and sisters over a meatless bone - with others standing by celebrating, ululating and laughing.

Indeed, the poor are restless

I thank you

Issued by: Department of Labour
11 June 2008