South Africa’s Growth and Development Summit (GDS) to be held on June 7 in Midrand, near Johannesburg, is likely to be an “endorsing” summit, where President Thabo Mbeki and some 200 delegates will endorse a programme of action that has already been decided, said Department of Labour representative Snuki Zikalala.
“The actual format, and consequently the venue for the summit, will be decided by the Nedlac (National Economic Development and Labour Council) parties. At this stage it looks as if it will be an endorsing summit,” Zikalala said.
Four task teams have been set up, each focusing on one of the four agreed themes — investment, employment, skills and equity, and local action. Draft position papers of the four Nedlac constituencies — government, organised labour, organised business and the community — have already been published and two plenary sessions have been held where the Nedlac partners clarified the intent of their respective position papers.
Two days — Tuesday May 13 and Friday May 16 — have been set aside for intensive parallel task team engagements. Further work will be done in the following week, leading to a Nedlac plenary session scheduled for Thursday May 22.
The other major summit held between the Nedlac partners was the Jobs Summit, held on October 30, 1998, at Gallagher Estate in Midrand. – I-Net Bridge