Shift in Goverment thinking

[IanF]

...During the closing session Zuma said what he'd most be taking away from the three days was the need for all South Africans to pull together to minimise consequences of the Global Crisis. Government and the private sector, he said, were well aware of their roles: "But what of the unions? If we have a crisis, why do we have strikes? Are the international labour organisations now part of the discussion?"

This supported earlier statements like when he emphasised a view that "the world has changed. That's a reality all of us must appreciate". And his assertion that it is now time to speak frankly on key national issues like employment because "I think we are often too diplomatic. Too much diplomacy means you end up not discussing the issue. We must deal with the issues".

This from Moneyweb Link.

Maybe Zuma will not be as bad as feared lets hope he listens to his advisors and this marks the beginning of the end of the Tripartite alliance.

[Dave A]

I'm afraid the penny has only dropped halfway so far.

I'll focus on this bit:

Confirming that the penny really has dropped, former public servant and now Absa chief executive Maria Ramos opined "We don't hold enough people accountable. When delivery doesn't happen, we need to fire somebody."

Her husband, the man who is effectively Zuma's prime minister, former finance head Trevor Manuel went further. In the standing room-only session assessing SA's future, Manuel berated the country's business leadership as "cowards" for not speaking out on restrictive labour legislation introduced shortly after the ANC took power in 1994.

SA's labour legislation is based largely on inflexible rules devised by West Germany during a period when that country enjoyed full employment. It is widely regarded as the most anti-business in the world, heavily weighted against employers.

Rather than fighting the legislation, SA companies voted with their feet, replacing labour with capital wherever possible and, as a result, sending the labour-to-capital ratio ever lower. Academics calculate this has cost the country more than two million jobs in the past decade.

Aha, Mr Manuel - not quite so simple, I'm afraid. There were voices of dissent, but they were small voices and ignored. Government was well tuned to listening to what they wanted to hear.

And it gets worse. It's not just the trade unions that gained out of this rigid labour legislation. Big, established business did too - hence the apparent lack of resistance.

[Marq]

When these main player politicians are wagging fingers and still blaming something or somebody then we should know that what they say is mainly BS. I don't see why he should have even brought this 1994 point up with inflammatory words like coward.

This is the next era of blame - apartheid is getting a bit old now so move along and blame the next set of guys who should have known better. We made the laws and you 'lang haar betogers' didn't do anything about it so we could lock you up and make people aware that we were in the wrong. hrumph.

Why Manual can't just come and say something like.....we would like to review what we have done in the past and make some changes...much better - more believable and no need to flame some group somewhere. The elections are over and he has a new job....get on with it now.

[Graeme]

Marq - I would go one further when it comes to blame and what has gone wrong in the past - put all those ignorant poseurs and scoundrels in prison. That's after confiscating the proceeds of their crimes.

[IanF]

What I like is the U turn that is happening. Like COSATU saying the 500 000 jobs the President offered in his state of the nation address that these can be casual jobs. So heres the optimist who will still look for labour saving machines!

[Chatmaster]

What truly amaze me is the opinion that government can create jobs... It seems like mathematics are not a requirement in government or they simply do not understand where government gets their money from...

Whilst government still continue to look for blame carriers they will not be able to look forward and fix the issues. Leadership within their ranks are limited and they still seem to lack the ability to realise that leadership is a quality that are self-taught and not gained by position or rank.

[Dave A]

Hmm. I'm quietly thinking what could be done to ease some of that labour legislation... and some of the consequences.

It's hard to see labour giving up what they see as "rights" without a fight.

Talking is one thing, doing is another. And it's going to take some pretty tough leadership to tamper with this one.

[IanF]

Dave
This is what makes this so intriguing. We should get a constitutional amendment that labour laws apply to cabinet, then the president can't just fire the deputy president without a hearing an appeal then CCMA. That would get reasonable laws in place or a cabinet of 100s.

[tec0]

What do we expect from fools, other than fools leading fools blindly till one stumble and they will fall together. Freedom now is nothing more than a footnote or a montage of provocative pictures of a past age.

In order for government to function, government needs look closely at the scenario. This is not SimCity. We are real people and we have real needs and not just empty promises. I hope they will soon grasp the understanding of the word anarchy. Anarchy is spawned by utter depression and severe poverty.

As for unions planning strikes? This action is justifiable, for there are companies showing up to R250 million in profits yet they still continue retrenchment and pay-cuts without justifiable reasons. In this aspect alone one can identify the utter uselessness of government.

[wynn]

It was pretty 'Cowardly' as Manuell put it for 'Big Business' to reduce new employment, not fill replacement positions after natural attrition, mechanise where possible, import rather than manufacture, move certain production offshore, downsize, drop unproductive lines etc.

The problem is, for the last fifteen or more years, Government were not listening.

Now the 'penny' has dropped but nobody heard it hit the non existent 'bottom'