Job losses: Zuma calls on business to 'make sacrifices'

African National Congress (ANC) leader Jacob Zuma has called on labour and business to “make sacrifices” to avoid job losses in the face of the global finance crisis, Business Day reported on Monday.

He said South Africans faced “extraordinary circumstances” and would be required to make “sacrifices” to prevent businesses from closing down and shedding jobs.

Zuma suggested more interest-rate cuts and smaller performance bonuses for executives.

He also said workers should donate a day’s wages to a fund to mitigate the effects of retrenchments.

“Every suggestion should be thrown into the basket,” he told Business Day.

Saving jobs would be a priority for the new government, he said.

“We have to come together and act decisively, so the pace of work in government would have to be changed if the new government wanted to hit the ground running.

“It’s not like the normal establishment of government. You have this global economic meltdown.”

He dismissed demands by labour for a change in the South African Reserve Bank’s mandate.

“That [Reserve Bank’s mandate] can’t be the starting point of discussions.

We cannot put issues on the table now which will divide us. We need to hold hands,” said Zuma.—Sapa