TimesLIVE reports that Minister in the Presidency Mondli Gungubele says the government will assess the effect, if any, of the controversial social security green paper that has been withdrawn.

Among other things, the paper, published two weeks ago, proposed that workers should contribute 8%-12% of their earnings towards a government-run fund. At a media update on Thursday, Gungubele said: “When such papers are issued, normally they would have been consulted with the cabinet ... and we don’t express any view about the contents of the paper until it has gone via a proper process. We will assess if it has caused any damage and have no doubt that communications people will have to find a way of dealing with that.” Gungubele admitted that due processes had not been followed and the government had not adopted a position on the paper’s contents. The paper sparked controversy and drew the ire of trade unions, who promised to “vehemently oppose the ludicrous” proposal. They said the proposal would amount to an additional tax on workers already struggling to make ends meet. The business sector also felt let down by the release of the paper.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Nonkululeko Njilo and Linda Ensor at BusinessLive

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