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The Portfolio Committee on Labour has congratulated the Department of Labour for receiving a clean audit for the second year in a row and hailed this as a sign of good management and leadership.

He said under the management of Minister Mildred Oliphant and her Director-General Mr. Nkosinathi Nhleko, the department has broken the record of six years of negative audit findings.

Aleck Nchabeleng, chairperson of the committee, was addressing dozens of stakeholders from labour, business, government and civil society groups at the Job Summit hosted by the Department of Labour in Secunda, Mpumalanga, on Friday.

The Job Fair-the seventh to be hosted by Labour Minister, Mildred Oliphant, gives jobseekers the opportunity to meet prospective employers and also register them on the department’s database under the Public Employment Services (PES).

“Our observation as the committee is that this clean audit that the department has received speaks volumes of the leadership style as well as the interaction between management, the minister and staff. The impact of this professional relationship can be seen in the improved way of doing things in the department,” Nchabeleng said.

In an interview with the media, Nchabeleng said the summit in Mpumalanga is “the best way of getting feedback from the communities employed by the minister. Quite clearly, this method minimises gatekeepers between the minister and the electorate”.

Godfrey Oliphant, Deputy Minister of Mineral Resources said employment creation for the youth was the most burning and pressing economic issue in the world. “As we speak the Euro-zone countries are grappling with this problem and South Africa cannot run away from playing its part in reducing youth unemployment”.

He said the focus for the country should be on “sustainable job creation”.

Among dignitaries at the Summit were Labour Minister, the Deputy Ministers from Mineral Resources and Education Godfrey Oliphant and Mduduzi Manana respectively, her Director General, Nkosinathi Nhleko and Norman Mokoena, MEC in the Department of Economic, Development and Tourism in Mpumalanga.

Organisers said the next Job Summits were scheduled to take place in Cape Town on October 26 with the last one due to be held in Rustenburg, North West on 30 November 2012.