Cape Town - Cabinet is to consider amendments to the Labour Relations Act in the coming months and is pursuing several measures to ensure more jobs are created, Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe told MPs on Wednesday.
Motlanthe was responding to a question from the leader of the opposition Lindiwe Mazibuko, on whether Cabinet intended to approve amendments to the Labour Relations Act and what steps had been taken to create more jobs and ensure that economic growth was being led by the private sector.
Speaking in the National Assembly, he said he was not in a position to speculate on what the Cabinet may decide when considering amendments to the Act. However, he pointed out that the current labour legislation was flexible enough to allow for competition in the labour market.
He said the improvement of high education and Further Education and Training (FET) colleges, mooted in the recently released Green Paper on Post-School Further Education and Training, would accelerate efforts to build a capable labour force.
Turning to what was being done to ensure that economic growth was being led by the private sector, Motlanthe said the private sector played a major role, but that there would also be a role for government to create an enabling environment for growth.
The massive infrastructure projects announced by President Jacob Zuma in his State of the Nation Address earlier this month would help grow the country.
"In addition to infrastructure investment, we are implementing measures to diversify exports, reduce the cost of doing business in South Africa, reduce constraints to growth in various sectors as well as to promote more efficient production systems and entrepreneurship and innovation," he said.
He said the government would also undertake regulatory reform to improve competitiveness on a continuous basis.
Turning to how the government would tackle unemployment, Motlanthe said the Quarterly Labour Force Survey released earlier this month revealed that 365 000 people were able to get new jobs.
This is despite the number of unemployed people having risen by 107 000 people last year.
"We were able to reduce the number of people unemployed in the years before the recession began, and we aim to return to that level of performance and even exceed it in the years to come," he said.
In the meantime, the government was also providing short-term employment and various forms of social support for those not able to find jobs.
These included programmes such as the Expanded Public Works Programme, the Community Works Programme, the development of small businesses and co-operatives, the Jobs Fund, vocational training and the War on Poverty Campaign.
"The advantage of the Community Works Programme is that it has proven its ability to expand rapidly and flexibly while the strengthening of community structures provides a platform for other programmes," Motlanthe said.
