New Labour Minister Nomakhosazana Meth being sworn-in. Picture: Ayanda Ndamane/ Independent Newspapers
The whole country looks forward to hearing the voices of our new Minister of Employment and Labour, Minister Nomakhosazana Meth. My plea goes to Minister Meth to engage with all the other ministries who can influence job creation in the future.
Hopefully Minister Meth will engage on a regular basis with our new Minister of Basic Education, Siviwe Gwarube. The Department of Basic Education, which is currently completely broken, needs a herculean effort to bring it to be functional.
It is essential that education is rebuilt so as to ensure that our learners and our future workforce are able to be trained up to be future captains of industry. Very unfortunately and much to all of our disdain, we have a lost generation.
We have individuals who have joined the unemployment queues who are not qualified to enter the job market. The 40% unemployment has put major pressure on the new Minister of Social Development who has to find funding for the millions who are desperate.
It is absolutely vital that our Minister of Small Business Development, Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams, has everything in her power to ensure that small businesses are beneficiaries of the early undertakings from the last administration by President Ramaphosa.
In that last administration President Ramaphosa promised to look at regulations which were standing in the way of small business development and job creation. Minister Ndabeni-Abrahams is now able to uncouple the shackles that were placed on small business and their ability to create jobs. Her task begins right now.
This Government of National Unity has very clearly already sent out the message not only to the people of South Africa, but to the world that many changes are about to be made which will be beneficial to job creation and a better life to all. As government sends out the message of renewal we are finding the positivity cascading on to the poorest of the poor.
I received a letter from Cosatu last week which was likewise incredibly positive about our future.
The largest trade union federation has reached out to all to tackle unemployment. I quote from the letter as follows: “The Federation has a long history of working with Parliament since the dawn of democracy. We are in alliance with the ANC, to recognise the important role of all MP’s and look forward to working together to address societies many dire socio-economic challenges.
Unemployment does not care about one’s party preferences. Our doors are open to all MPs for engagements and solutions. Our difficulties during the decade of state capture are well known. We hope this Parliament will continue efforts to raise the role and stature of Parliament and not be distracted by partisan points scoring…
“More needs to be done to hold government accountable for implementation and not simply to accept departments failing to spend monies whilst communities desperately need infrastructure investment...We trust and hope the 7th Parliament will meet with workers, their families and societies expectations. Cosatu will be a partner in this journey. We need this Parliament and government to succeed in creating a better life for all South Africans.”
This approach from Cosatu is fantastic and basically implores all of us to hold hands as South Africans to go forward immediately. Cosatu ends off by stating: “We need this parliament and government to succeed in creating a better life for all South Africans.”
I fully endorse that and I’m sure all our readers feel likewise. Over the coming weeks we will watch all our ministers, deputy ministers and portfolio chairpersons and we will wish them well in making sure that all South Africans are united in our quest to create jobs which are sustainable.
As you can hear from the above, I am extremely excited and optimistic for the future of our labour situation.
* Michael Bagraim is a veteran labour lawyer.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.
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