Die departement het ambisieuse planne en vir seker groot uitdagings. Die VF Plus wens die Minister en sy departement geluk met die hernieude fokus op die groei van die ekonomie, tesame met volhoubare werkskepping.
Ons stem saam met Minister Davies dat daar ernstige strukturele gebreke in ons land se ekonomie bestaan en dat 'n gevolglike gebrek aan groei in die produksiesektore daartoe lei dat Suid-Afrika nie behoorlike werkskepping sien nie.(Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)
[Adv A D ALBERTS: The department has ambitious plans and certainly great challenges. The FF Plus congratulates the Minister and his department on the renewed focus on the growth of the economy, along with sustainable job creation.
We agree with Minister Davies that there are serious structural deficiencies in our country's economy and that the consequential lack of growth in the production sectors is causing South Africa not to realise proper job creation.]
We believe that one of the other key drivers of those structural deficiencies that the Minister referred to and neglected to address, is the current system of labour market intervention, called affirmative action.
Many of our country's experts, who could have acted as mentors, have left the country due to this system. As an economy is a human system, we truly need to re-evaluate what we do with our intellectual capital in this country. Do we cherish it by ploughing experience back into the market, or do we just keep up with market interventions that lead to inevitable imbalances?
Minister Davies, ons moet ook daarop let dat daar nuwe industrie is wat ons 'n ontwikkelingshupstoot kan gee in die toekoms. Ek gee twee voorbeelde daarvan aan u. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraph follows.)
[Minister Davies, we also need to take note that there are new industries which could give us a developmental boost in the future. I will give you two such examples.]
I will give you the following two examples of future industries that we could focus on. Firstly, it is our submission that the global space industry is one such sector that deserves more research on its future potential. We have now reached the second generation space initiative at a global level that is increasingly going to be dictated by the private sector. Apart from perhaps the biomaterials sciences, this seems to be the one industry that will lead us to new, global economic frontiers.
South Africa needs to perform future studies in this field to assess how it can fit into the future space economy and start research and development in the space-related fields of materials, energy and information science. The Square Kilometre Array, SKA, and low-cost satellite projects represent a step in the right direction.
Secondly, the film and television production industry is a fast job creator with training that happens to take place on the job, so to speak. The Department of Trade and Industry's rebate system is a good start in the right direction. However, we believe that by adding tax incentives into the mix, more long-term international productions will come to South Africa, leading to the quick creation of jobs whilst creating the possibility of also expanding our tourism industry. We ask that the Minister also take this industry into consideration.
We can compete with the best in the world and create jobs in the process, but let me emphasise again that we will then need all South Africans, black and white, to participate in the economy.
Indien ons almal op 'n gelyke vlak kan deelneem, sal die ekonomiese groeigety wat daaruit voortspruit al die skepe in die hawe se vlakke lig. Almal sal uiteindelik daarby baat vind. Ek dank u. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraph follows.)
[Should all of us be able to participate on an equal footing, the economic development tide arising from this will increase the levels of all the ships in the harbour. Everyone will eventually benefit from it. Thank you.]