Labour laws to be reviewed in South Africa

By M.S. Prabhakara

CAPE TOWN, FEB. 5. The South African President, Mr. Thabo Mbeki, said on Friday that there would be a review of legislation dealing with labour issues, the ``labour market legislative framework.'' Specifically, the Labour Relations Act, the Basic Conditions of Employment Act and the Insolvency Act, will be amended.

Mr. Mbeki announced these initiatives to boost investment and create employment in his state of the nation address to the opening session of the two Houses of Parliament.

The Labour Relations Act (1995) and the Basic Conditions of Employment Act (1997), two pathbreaking pieces of legislation, have come under criticism from leaders of organised industry and employers.

Mr. Mbeki recalled the point he had made in his state of the nation address last year about ``the labour market and its actual or perceived impact in investment and job creation'; and the assurance that if ``perceptions or realities'' influenced the process of job creation negatively, these would be addressed. Mr. Mbeki said the Minister of labour had conducted a review of the ``labour market legislative framework'', in coordination with the National Economic Development and Labour Council, the statutory body to facilitate, co-ordinate and integrate economic, labour and social policies.

``As a result of this review, the Government has concluded that certain aspects of the legislative instruments aimed at giving effect to labour market policies have led to unintended consequences. For this reason, to ensure that we address simultaneously such issues as fair labour standards and the fostering of economic growth and job creation, amendments to certain provisions of the Labour Relations Act, the Basic Conditions of Employment Act and the Insolvency Act will be introduced this year,'' Mr. Mbeki said.

The most eloquent commentary on the initiative was the immediate response in the House as Mr. Mbeki announced it. Members of the Opposition parties, in particular those of the Democratic Party, whose leader, Mr. Tony Leon, has been urging Mr. Mbeki to ``stare down the unions'', were loudest in their applause while those on the ruling African National Congress (ANC) benches were for the most part stonily silent.

Mr. Mbeki's address dealt mostly with domestic issues with the focus on economy. There was not even the slightest indication of any questioning either in the general principles or in the specifics of policy of the orthodoxy of the market, and the conviction, central to the macro-economic policy of GEAR (Growth, Employment and Redistribution) where increased foreign investment would lead to economic growth, which in turn would create jobs and greater prosperity.

Mr. Mbeki also mentioned India, along with Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Malaysia and China, as the countries of the South with which South Africa proposed to ``purposefully and systematically increase its economic relations'' for mutual benefit.

The opening of Parliament has, since the first session of the first democratically elected Government in 1994, been marked by colour and glamour, with members sporting striking outfits. Mr. Nelson Mandela, accompanied by his wife, Ms. Graca Machel, was among the distinguished visitors in the gallery and drew the loudest applause. Also present was Mr. Mbeki's mother, Ms. Epainette Mbeki.

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Section  : International
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