30 September 1999
Comrades:
Dumelang
goeie more
sanibonani
molweni
thobela
good morning
Thank you for inviting me to address this extremely important Job Summit. The creation of a climate in which we can provide jobs and employment for our people is probably one of the greatest challenges we face. Because without jobs, we cannot fulfil the dr eams on which we have built our new democracy. Without jobs, we cannot build a better life for all.
The national Job Summit recognised the seriousness of this challenge. "We harbour no illusions about the difficulties ahead of us as we strive to succeed in this collective endeavour", it acknowledged.
It was resolved that "Success depends on restructuring and building a vibrant and sustainable economy." And the Summit accordingly issued a call for co-operation and mutual effort, saying: "Each and every one of us must be part of this work. It is not the work of the government or any one social partner alone."
Finally the Summit expressed the following ideal: "Through a commitment to work; dedication to learning and the acquiring of skills, spending and saving wisely; using our imagination; exhibiting entrepreneurship and by our disciplined consideration of the greater good; each of us can make our personal and collective contribution to the building of this new vibrant economy."
Since the Summit, a great deal of work has been done towards harnessing the efforts of government. A Cabinet Inter-Ministerial Committee on the Job Summit has been established. This committee, consisting of eleven
Ministers, meets on a regular basis to ensure that government meets its obligations on the agreements reached at the Summit.
A Job Summit Supervisory Structure has also been established. This is made up of representatives of Government, business, labour and the community constituency. This body has been meeting regularly to monitor and review progress in implementing the Summit' s agreements.
As you will all know, the Government has made a Poverty Relief Fund grant of R1 billion for the year 1999/2000, and has also allocated funds to line-function Departments. This grant aims to implement Government's commitments arising from the Job Summit dec laration.
The business sector's Umsobomvu Fund has also been established, with the aim of providing R1 billion in monetary grants for skills development and job creation projects.
The trade union movement has set up a Job Creation Trust, with an initial amount of R18, 7 million. Investigations are underway to establish how best the funding should be used to create jobs.
A key agreement that came out of the Job Summit was for the establishment of Integrated Provincial Projects. These projects, now in their pilot phase, are driven by the Department of Trade and Industry. They aim to link Government Departments responsible f or infrastructure development (roads, ports, telecommunications, water supply and so on) with private sector investors and the community.
The Eastern Cape's Coega project is one example. Comrade Membathisi Mdladlana, the Minister of Labour, who chairs the Cabinet Inter-Ministerial Committee on the Job Summit, spoke recently of some of the imminent new investments in the area, and of his Depa rtment's initiatives to boost training in the wake of these investments. These include R500 million for a new casino and R700 million for a new South African Breweries plant, employing over 15 000 people in the construction phase. A second pilot is in the Lubombo areas in northern KwaZulu-Natal, where very exciting work is being done to optimise job-creation opportunities offered through eco-tourism. Although tourism cannot be seen as a "magic bullet" solution, the sector is of pivo tal importance to the development of our economy and the creation of jobs. The business sector has recognised this and is allocating the bulk of its funding to pursuing opportunities in this field.
You will be wondering how the Integrated Provincial Projects will affect the North West Province where there is presently no pilot project. The key lies in the word 'integrated'. As the name implies, the opportunities that derive from these projects aim at maximising opportunities in all provinces. The purpose of the pilot initiatives is to show how best we can achieve these opportunities. What we learn in the pilot projects must be put into practice throughout the country as soon as possible.
Integration is, indeed, a key feature of the new style of government. President Thabo Mbeki has made it very clear that integrated development will be a cornerstone of macro-economic policies and practices. If we genuinely seek ways in which we can develop partnerships, and collaborate to mutual benefit, there is no doubt whatsoever that we can create a great many more jobs from our existing resource base.
Another critical area identified at the Job Summit was that of training and the skills enhancement. As requested by the social partners, Parliament has passed the Skills Development Levies Bill to provide additional resources for this task. Minister Mdladl ana has announced that R50 million will be committed to the National Skills Fund for 1999/2000. This money is being used to support training initiatives.
There are many other parallel initiatives that are being developed, such as the Buy South Africa Campaign, the strengthening of customs and excise, the promotion of small, medium and micro enterprises, and initiatives to enable the poorest of the poor to g ain access to finance in a way that keeps them out of the clutches of that other predator of the poor - the loan sharks. There is also creative work towards the creation of sustainable and affordable mass housing delivery, including rental stock. Progressi ve steps have been taken to develop a conceptual framework for an integrated and comprehensive social security system.
There are, overall, very visible signs of willingness to do what is necessary to honour the Job Summit commitment to the building of human capacity. Important efforts are, for example, being made to improve the efficiency of the schooling system by improvi ng educational standards, improving quality management in schools and enhancing the effectiveness of schooling.
There is also progress in dealing with the special needs of the youth, particularly in the development of Youth Brigades, counselling and career guidance, a satellite programme for the rehabilitation of youth in prisons, as well as piloting learnerships in tourism.
Women are beginning to move into their rightful place in society. An important way of helping achieve this is through their inclusion wherever employment opportunities become available. In my Department, for example, 50 per cent of the employment opportuni ties in water supply and sanitation work have gone to women. A programme of central importance is, of course, the Department of Welfare's Flagship programme for unemployed women with children under five. The appointment of women to high level Cabinet posts must send a signal throughout society. This government intends to honour its obligations to women ... one of the commitments of the Job Summit.
Another area in which we can report success is in relation to people with disabilities. For the first time, people with disabilities are finding employment opportunities through Government programmes and making their mark on society. Amongst other projects , the Department of Public Works is employing people with disabilities to enhance access to and use of public buildings. Skills enhancement for people with disabilities, notably through the Departments of Labour and of Welfare, is also progressing well.
For too long in South Africa, people with disabilities have been seen as different or abnormal. We must continue to struggle for the right of people with disabilities to learn, work, move about and be respected as equal partners in our society.
The Government's Special Employment Programmes continue to offer critically important interventions in the fight against poverty and unemployment. Established programmes, such as the Consolidated Municipal Infrastructure Programme and Community-based Publi c Works Programmes, have been supplemented by exciting new initiatives such as the Clean and Green Living Campaign of the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, and Agriculture's Land Care programme.
However, it is important to acknowledge that the Job Summit is not only about creating new jobs or maximising the efficiency with which we use resources. It is also about conserving or sometimes reconceptualising those jobs that we already have. South Afri ca is not isolated from its environment. The global economy is today a reality and we must be part of that economy if we are not to be its victims. We need to understand that the way the world does business is changing and that we must find ways to retrain , reskill and redirect people's energies towards the job opportunities of the new millennium. In this respect the Social Plan Agreement, which seeks to "actively manage retrenchments and to ameliorate their effects on individuals and local economies" is en ormously important. A steering committee consisting of Government Departments, provincial task teams, parastatals, business and labour has been set up to undertake this critical task. The Department of Provincial and Local Government is dedicating capacity to ensure the management and administration of this programme. This is a vital consideration, as we try to steady our economic ship in the very troubled waters of the global economy, with its uncertainties, its inherited inequities and those who trade in the lives of the poor.
I have no doubt that the North West Province will be building on the agreements and partnerships that were cemented at the Job Summit. We all know that the challenges that we face are enormous. Government must deliver on its promises. Business must develop its social contract. Labour must come to terms with the fact that, when all is said and done, they represent the interests of the "haves", and that the Job Summit is first and foremost about unemployment. And we must all work in an integrated way to achie ve the commitments we have made.
We are all concerned with ways of making things work better, optimising our resources and building our economy. In this respect, I would like to talk briefly about an issue that concerns me as the Minister responsible for one of the most important resource s - water.
There is an old proverb that goes: "We never know the worth of water till the well is dry". Here, in the North West Province, I am certain that there are many people who know the worth of water - people who know what it is to walk for water, to dig deep fo r water, to watch their crops and cattle wither and die for lack of water. Nature has not blessed this north-western corner of our country with abundant, reliable rainfall. And so, in the North West Province, water has real value in your lives.
But there is, as we all know, a great lack of equity in the use and distribution of water in our country. It is odd, for example, to consider how we price a scarce resource like water. The water price is a heavy one for the poor who may have access to as l ittle as 25 litres a day. But for the 'better-offs' and the very rich in our society, it is a give-away price. As a consequence, some of the very rich people in our society use very large amounts of water ... as much as 1000 litres a day per person in some cases. This water is used to water gardens that are often planted with exotic and very thirsty vegetation, washing cars and filling their swimming pools.
The result is that the people who use the most water and who can easily afford to pay more end up wasting water because it is so cheap. This drives up the demand for water and means that we are forced to invest in massive dam projects costing millions and millions of rands.
What we are saying is that water is a scarce and precious resource and that people who wish to use it for luxury purposes must pay a luxury price, just as they would for any other luxury they enjoy.
Economists have words for everything ... and they call this kind of result a "perverse incentive". A perverse incentive describes a situation where your interventions encourage people to do the very things that you don't want them to do. In this case, wate r subsidies lead to the wasting of water because it is so cheap. Those who are consuming the minimum are paying the same price as those who consume large amounts. Ultimately, we are subsidising not the poor, but the rich.
I have been very puzzled by this phenomenon since I became Minister. Why do we subsidise the price of water, if the result is that people do not use it efficiently and effectively? Why do we not put a realistic price on water ... and use the present subsid y to invest in jobs?
My reasoning is that, if we make people pay a realistic price for water, they will use it far, far more efficiently and effectively than they do at present. This means that, once we have met our obligations to supply water for basic human needs and ecologi cal functioning, we would then have more water available for productive use. Such a step would have a dramatic impact on local economies, especially in dry and drought-prone areas such as this one.
In Hermanus and in Umgeni, there are two important pioneering initiatives that seek to do just this. Water is charged according to a series of levels. At the first level, the people pay nothing, for that is the level of need. For increasing levels, there a re increasing costs. The result has been very encouraging. In Hermanus, a survey showed that 96 per cent of the population fully supported the new system. It is a simple formula and it results, not only in substantial water savings, but also in increased a wareness of the fact that water is a precious resource.
I must point out, of course, that this is not something we can do everywhere overnight. We have to respect whatever investments have been made based on the current pricing of water, no matter how poorly it reflects the real value. But I think it is time to begin to think about changing the way we approach this issue ... so that we can begin to talk about 'investments' rather than 'subsidies'.
What do I mean by such investments? I am sure that all of us here agree that optimising the creation of jobs is an investment for our country. It is an investment in people and an investment in our economy.
We can justify taxing people to make these investments. For they can bring us returns that are in the interests of all. Farmers who pay next to nothing for their water and then choose to use inefficient water practices to keep their labour costs down are n ot acting in the public interest of all. As I have pointed out, they are not even acting in their own long term interests!
We would do far better, surely, to decide on how much we should invest in a particular area and give that investment opportunity to those who create jobs. That makes far more sense that using that money to subsidise or cheapen a scarce resource. It also se ems to me far more likely to achieve the economic benefits we all seek.
It is exactly eleven months since the national Job Summit was held on the 30 October 1998. The Job Summit brought together business, labour, community representatives and government in a quest to find ways in which jobs can be created. Our former President , Comrade Nelson Mandela, called the Job Summit (and I quote), "possibly the most important event since democratic elections". His words signify the magnitude of what it is that we are tackling here today.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity of mentioning some of the things that we in national Government are doing, together with our social partners, to take the resolutions of the Job Summit forward. I want, too, to emphasise our solidarity with and commi tment to the efforts of the provincial leadership of the North West Province, and their social partners, to make this Job Summit work.
It is a small part of a greater resolve. Our President, Cabinet and Government have made binding commitments in respect of job creation. I know that this is true of the provincial leadership in the North West Province, and I take heart that your deliberati ons here will find practical interventions that will improve the lives of all our people - and are sensitive to the needs of our neighbours.
Partnerships work. Integration is the buzz word of the new government. So let us roll up our sleeves and get to work.