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THE STATE OF THE NATION ADDRESS

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Att: The Editor – Business Day

Email: busday@bdfm.co.za

THE STATE OF THE NATION ADDRESS 

We very carefully followed the State of the Nation Address, very carefully listened to our President on how it is going to pan out during 2015 in the labour sphere.

Our President carefully outlined what had taken place in the legislation change in 2014 and the final signing in January 2015. Over and above that our President also referred to the small business ministry and its need to create more jobs. Other than this his speech was completely underwhelming, nothing was said about what is going to transpire during 2015 and how the government is going to make it easier for business to employ further staff.

Our President could have done the following:

  1. He could have praised the Commission for Conciliation Mediation & Arbitration for being a world class agency with its very small budget. In essence disputes are exponentially growing and despite this arbitrations are heard in under 60 days from the date of the dispute. Over and above this the settlement rate of disputes has been over 80%;
  1. Our President could have given the public some indication as to how the failed Department of Workmens Compensation is going to be improved. There are injuries at work which have not been settled for over ten years;
  1. Our President could have indicated what exemptions small businesses are going to receive from the labour law to help them grow.

Despite these three above mentioned factors our President said nothing.

We know and understand that unemployment around the world is growing but we also know that South Africa is one of the worst. In the State of The Nation address one would have expected to have heard how the government was going to tackle the unemployment. There was immense silence. In fact the silence was deafening. The age group 17 to 25 is almost 50% unemployment and this is a time bomb. Although the youth wage subsidy was mentioned there is no mention as to how it would be expanded and how it could be improved. As it currently stands it is very ineffective. There is a growing successful and ambitious black middle class which is the future of South Africa. This black middle class has not been catered for at all. Our President could have quite easily explained how our government can help the black middle class start new businesses and get rid of the red tape. This in turn would have created hundreds of thousands of jobs. Again the silence was so loud we had to put our hands over our ears.

All in all the State of The Nation Address had no sparkle at all and left most South Africans wondering what the President actually said.

 

MICHAEL BAGRAIM

13 February 2015