Fin24 reports that frustration was palpable at the annual summit of the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) on Friday. Nedlac is facing an "existential crisis", warned Business Unity SA (BUSA) CEO Cas Coovadia.

It has been more than a year after President Cyril Ramaphosa pledged a social compact between the state, labour and business to tackle unemployment, sluggish growth and a host of other ills. It was supposed to have happened within 100 days. But there has been little progress and a lot of frustration at Nedlac, the forum that is supposed to reach a consensus on policy. The social compact has reportedly already gone through 11 drafts, without any agreement. A key sticking point is labour market reforms. In his address, Deputy President Paul Mashatile said there have been agreements between business and government, but the biggest challenge was about ideological positions among social partner "in respect of the path to growth, which have not shifted despite the enormous crisis the country faces". He went on to say: “We must summon enough bravery to discuss the matter openly to prevent the ticking time bomb of poverty, inequality and joblessness from going off." Nedlac executive director Lisa Seftel said the partners mostly agreed on what needed to be done in the short term, but they did not agree on the long-term programme to turn the economy around. The summit also highlighted Nedlac's constraints as a policy-formulating body to ensure legislative reform. Only a third of bills since 2015/16 that have passed through Nedlac have become law.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Na'ilah Ebrahim at Fin24

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