Speaking at a Workers Day rally in Madidi in the North West province on Thursday, Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Tony Leon called for the proposed Jobs Summit between government, labour and business to be scrapped.
”We must scrap the Jobs Summit. There is no need for another wasteful talkshop. Rather than throwing good money after bad summits, we should implement the policies that work,” said Leon in a statement.
He said that the government was spending millions of rands on another summit, when the ANC had already held a similar summit in 1998, and Cabinet provided a budget of R1,5-billion to implement its recommendations.
”Nevertheless, the ANC decided to call another summit, scheduled for last year. It was postponed to this year, and then it was postponed again. It is going to happen in June, fourteen months late,” he said.
Leon said what was needed was not another wasteful talkshop, but changing the country’s labour laws and regulations.
”In doing so, we must protect workers’ basic health and safety rights. But we must increase the flexibility of the labour market so that businesses are encouraged to employ people instead of machines.”
The DA’s recommended changes included the following:
”In short, the labour legislation must use fewer sticks and more carrots. Our focus should move from increasing protection for labour to increasing the demand for labour,” Leon said. – Sapa