South African Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana has said stimulating growth, job generation and skills development, as well as poverty alleviation were urgent challenges facing the country today.
The minister was addressing students and staff members at the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business on the theme of ‘Working in Partnerships’ on Thursday.
”By planning joint interventions, that is both the private and public sectors, we are likely to make the biggest impact in the shortest time. The problems and the challenges of the country are not just the government’s, but affect us all and must be shared by all,” he said.
Continuing to urge the community and the private sector to join government in the fight against poverty, Mdladlana said the scale of the problems inherited from the past could not be reversed overnight.
He said although great strides have been made in the provision of housing, water, health, worker rights and education for the poor, the pace of improvement in the quality of life would never be fast enough.
”The labour and community leaders have the great task of working with other constituencies to accelerate the pace of change but without breaking the partnership completely,” the minister added.
Mdladlana stressed that there was a need for the South African society to build, not only a common purpose and vision, but also a shared commitment to action and implementation.
He cited the recent Growth and Development Summit as an example of working in partnership.
”The Agreement reached by government, business, labour and the community at the summit includes a commitment to build an enduring and lasting partnership between Government and the other social partners to tackle unemployment, poverty and the challenges of social development and economic growth,” Mdladlana explained.
The minister concluded by explaining that for an effective partnership to take place it must be based on social dialogue. – I-Net Bridge