Gallagher Estate in Midrand will, on Saturday, see the gathering of over 330 South African leaders from government, business, organised labour and community organisations at the long-awaited Growth and Development Summit.

The summit is taking place in the context of disappointing economic growth; low levels of foreign and domestic investment, currently around the 15% mark; an increasing and persistent structural unemployment problem, with levels of joblessness having increased from 15% in 1995 to a current 30%; a decline in formal sector employment and a corresponding fall in real incomes from work, as people become increasingly involved in informal sector activities; and an increase in levels of poverty and inequality.

The context highlights the urgent need for the summit to facilitate meaningful debate and generate proposals for sustainable growth, job creation, poverty alleviation and increased investment.

The summit is being held under the umbrella of the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac), which has been responsible for fostering debate between the relevant social partners. Together, the partners have agreed that the agenda for the summit should be managed under four broad headings: investment; skills and equity; job creation and enterprise promotion; and the building of partnerships at the level of communities.

Government has asserted that the macroeconomic fundamentals necessary for overcoming current growth and development obstacles are in place, in the form of the Growth, Employment and Redistribution (Gear) strategy, and that these will not be up for discussion at the summit.

Instead, government’s position paper for the summit proposes micro-level measures to strengthen the country’s economic position. The proposals include the establishment of a task team to address infrastructure planning and project management bottlenecks in order to accelerate the impetus of investment; an increase in learnerships in order to raise the recruitment of unemployed youth; an expanded public works programme to create jobs; and enterprise support and empowerment initiatives to strengthen small business ventures.

Organised labour – consisting of Cosatu, South Africa’s largest trade union federation; Fedusa and Nactu – has proposed, in its position paper for the summit, that employment creation must become a central priority in all government policy. Towards job-creating growth, labour suggests a restructuring of the formal sector; and, in order to overcome the dualism created by apartheid, labour proposes that the State should actively improve the asset base of the poor through measures such as land reform and the provision of infrastructure and housing nearer to employment opportunities. To reduce the cost of living, labour requires an overhaul of current subsidy programmes, and the establishment of guidelines to ensure that electricity, water, education, transport and other basic services are affordable to the poor.

In contrast to government, labour has emphasised that microeconomic measures will fail to positively influence growth and development in the absence of macroeconomic reform. Labour contends that Gear has failed to raise employment, lower inequality and produce suitable levels of economic growth.

This contention has placed a host of politically contested issues at the heart of the summit, further fuelling the political fire has been the cautioning by Cosatu that it may withold its signature from the agreement that the summit generates. This warning has been the result of dissatisfaction over the power that Nedlac has had over the summit process. Cosatu holds that the tripartite alliance, consisting of itself, the ANC and the South African Communist Party, should have held the reins in developing the summit agenda, as was resolved at the Ekurhuleni Summit held between the alliance partners two years ago. Cosatu insists that, instead, through Nedlac, business played the main role in developing the agenda, which is now unreflective of labour’s concerns.

In its position paper, business states that, at this stage, social expenditure as a proportion of overall government spending is almost sufficient, and that the State should focus on other issues, such as efficiency improvements and increased capital expenditure, in order to generate growth and investment. On the issue of job creation and skills development, business proposes learnerships and an expanded role for the private sector in government’s public works strategy. To improve infrastructure delivery, business proposes the involvement of local commerce chambers with municipalities in tackling delivery problems. With regard to equity, business has suggested that black economic empowerment be broad-based, and that it be founded on sound business principles. To facilitate more efficient delivery, especially at local level, business suggests new structures under which public-private partnerships are conducted.

The community constituency at the summit will be represented by rural people, youth, women, civics and people with disabilities who, together, look forward to increased accessibility to social services and infrastructure for the poor. In a position paper prepared for the summit, Disabled People South Africa and Women propose greater representation of these groups in decision-making structures. Youth organisations have requested that young people become involved in initiatives such as community works programmes.

High expectations surround the summit, and South Africans are hoping for solutions to problems that are relevant to them on a daily basis. To achieve growth and development, however, the social partners involved in the summit process need to overcome the political challenges being faced.

Some degree of consensus exists between the partners as to the nature of the problem being experienced, and there seems to be broad agreement that sustained economic growth is the primary tool with which to overcome poverty and unemployment, and promote black economic empowerment. The expanded public works programme, and learnership and skills development initiatives, seem to be solutions that are generally acceptable to all partners.

The challenge for the summit thus lies in forging agreement between the partners on how to implement these ideas, and on how to bridge the gaps between the many other ideas around which there is little agreement.