Increased productivity could lift South Africans out of the abyss of the many social ills they face, Minister of Labour Membathisi Mdladlana said in Johannesburg on Monday.
The government is aware of the challenges in uplifting people’s lives, he told a conference on promoting productivity in Africa.
The productivity agenda was started in 1998. Since then development of skills programmes, youth development programmes and labour laws have been put in place to improve ”the standard of living of our people”, said Mdladlana.
”Youth development has become an integral part of addressing the challenges of post-apartheid South Africa.
”In devising policies and programmes for the development of all South Africans, we have generated policies and programmes that aim to provide opportunities for work that is productive and delivers a fair income, security in the workplace and social protection.”
Mdladlana said South Africa’s Constitution and labour laws provide people with the right to participate in the decisions affecting their lives.
”A happy and a skilled worker is an asset in any organisation that wants to achieve maximum productivity, growth, best service-delivery standards or profits.
”The opposite can therefore be also true for a worker who is disgruntled and has inadequate skills in any work place,” he said.
New approaches to internships and bursary programmes for young people encourage their development. Mdladlana conceded that more could still be done in this area.
South Africa has identified six major constraints that impact on the ability to succeed in achieving its goals.
Three of these, which the Department of Labour is involved with, are a shortage of suitably skilled labour, disjointed spatial settlement patterns and too much regulation of small and medium enterprises.
He hoped South Africa could use the productivity conference to learn from Asian countries, which are world frontrunners in competitiveness.
”It is our belief that in creating partnerships with our Asian counterparts, through sharing of their productivity experiences, productivity movement in Africa will be enhanced.” — Sapa