Hon Speaker, hon Deputy President, Members of Parliament, the labour market environment has the remnants of the apartheid social engineering patterns. Of course, the old system of apartheid provided a platform for super-exploitation of workers, which in turn provided a life support system for the apartheid economy.
I submit that on the balance of probabilities, the apartheid economy would not have survived without apartheid's repressive labour laws. For that reason, it is not surprising that every progressive move to make it possible for workers to enjoy full human rights and protection through the labour laws is opposed by those who are not friends of progress moves. Similarly, those who had become so spoilt with the exploitation as the mode of doing business regard that as okay.
Some businesses are finding it very difficult to cope with the fact that repressive labour laws are no longer part of our labour market landscape. Some have even gone to the extent of placing the blame of less than the required levels of job creation on our labour laws. But when you ask them exactly what the problem is with the labour laws, they tell you that our labour laws make it difficult to dismiss workers.
I thought curtailing the ease with which to dismiss a worker should be celebrated and not frowned upon. But then I realized that most employers have no idea of the trauma of being dismissed and that's why they have no sympathy if a worker is dismissed.
It is also urban legend to suggest that our labour laws make it hard to dismiss workers, because if that was the case, millions of workers who lost their jobs during the global economic crisis would not have been dismissed if the labour laws were as rigid as they claim. It has become clear to everyone that unless government does something directly about job creation, some businesses are just not interested.
The trouble, of course, is that unemployment is possibly the biggest threat to stability in this country, and stability is the main ingredient of viability and security in doing business in this country. Paying lip service to job creation by some employers is self-defeating.
Whilst it is generally accepted that the core business of business is doing business, it must also be acknowledged that it will not be sustainable if the socioeconomic deficit in the form of unemployment remains unattended to. This democracy has made a huge contribution to the success of many businesses, some of which would be history if it were not for democracy and the kind of democracy that exists in this country thanks to the ANC-led government!
I sometimes get the impression that our democracy and the willingness of our people to persevere is taken for granted. The trusting nature of our people was the cornerstone of believing that democracy would lead to a business-friendly environment that in turn would translate into prosperity being shared by all citizens.
Once again the ANC government calls on all its social partners to partner with it in its efforts to address unemployment in general and youth unemployment in particular. It is precisely for these reasons that government has introduced this Bill, not as a panacea for the unemployment crisis, but as a contribution to addressing what some consider as being the biggest threat to the future stability of this country.
The Bill is written in simple to understand language and its purpose and desired outcomes are explicit and noble. Establishing schemes to enhance the employment of young people is an objective that no South African in the right frame of mind would disagree with.
In the same vein, these efforts espoused in the Bill will not have the optimum impact if our social partners do not join hands with us. Having said that, government should not wait for those who are not ready to make a contribution. The train must move on and they might catch it at the next station if they genuinely love this country.
So accept the invitation to come on board to rid the country of joblessness; come on board to be counted among those who are part of the solution, because if you are not, then the reality is that you will remain a major part of the problem.
Let me conclude by recalling the 90s when trickle-down economic models were the gospel of the global economics, which was the text and preoccupation of many economists. It went like this: "Grow the economy and the social economic benefits thereof will trickle down from there." The progressive Nobel laureates of note challenged this paradigm and they have been vindicated.
Former President Nelson Mandela also raised concerns about this paradigm and is on record as having said: "The economic growth of the late 90s was a jobless growth." Let us deal with the need for economic growth in tandem with the urgent need to address joblessness in the general social upliftment of our people. The ANC supports this Bill. Ndza khensa. Inkomu! [Thank you.]