The DA has requested that the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Labour, Ms Lumka Yengeni, summon the Minister of Labour, Mildred Oliphant, to account for the mess in her department, especially the crisis at Productivity SA.

The Portfolio Committee on Labour was recently informed that all the Labour Department’s funding to Productivity SA has been stopped while a forensic audit takes place to investigate allegations of financial mismanagement at Productivity SA. No-one has been suspended pending the outcome of the audit.

Although the DA welcomes this investigation for the sake of good governance and transparency, simply cutting off funding repeatedly is no way for the Department of Labour to manage this entity.

Productivity SA also had their funding cut completely in quarter one of the current financial year, and after being reinstated in quarter two, it was again completely cut in the third quarter.

The mandate of Productivity SA includes saving jobs by saving companies in distress through various rescue initiatives. These initiatives have saved thousands of jobs each year, by making companies more productive and more competitive in the marketplace.

In 2016, 713 000 jobs were lost in South Africa – some of which could have been saved by Productivity SA, if they were financed to do their job.

With Productivity SA on the brink of collapse, Minister Oliphant is once again missing in action. In the last seven years, she has only accounted to the Parliamentary Committee twice. She is yet to send out a statement or conduct a media briefing on the matter.

The DA will not sit back in silence as Minister Oliphant runs her department without any accountability. Funding to Productivity SA must be reinstated in order to provide more job opportunities for the lost generation who struggle to gain employment.

 

Issued by DA