Press Statement dated 14 June 2018
The Federation of Unions of South Africa (FEDUSA) warmly welcomes this great initiative by the Kgalema Motlanthe Foundation, of which former President Kgalema Motlanthe is the Patron, and will participate in the Drakensberg Inclusive Growth Forum to stimulate the crafting of practical strategies that will bringing about the achievement of higher inclusive economic growth and employment creation, said Dennis George FEDUSA General Secretary.
FEDUSA has always held the view that strong collaboration and synergy between members of civil society in the form of foundations, churches, community, organized labour and business, is a vital precondition that needs to in place for us as a country to be able to profoundly transform the national economy and achieving higher inclusive economic growth for all South Africans and in the process create thousands of jobs for the unemployed among us, especially the youth.
FEDUSA believes that, in order to phase out the racialized structure of our economy once and for all; and open up real commercial opportunities for black businesses, which have been marginalized for too long, our government should introduce far reaching policy changes, that will see resources rich public entities such as the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) being allowed to provide start-up capital to a wider range of non-listed black companies beyond the narrow iSibaya Fund. This could be done by collapsing the iSibaya Fund into a new radical fund called the Inclusive Growth Fund, for example.
In addition to such a universal and all-encompassing social movement for real economic change, FEDUSA believes that it is incumbent upon the social partners of government, business and labour who regularly meet at NEDLAC (the National Economic Development and Labour Council) to augment and buttress the building of an inclusive growth process by working towards promoting and strengthening tolerance and understanding among their constituencies.
Moreover, it is the collective responsibility of these leaders, to implement without any further delays, shared economic growth strategies that have been agreed between them at NEDLAC, often after long and complex negotiations, in order to address the triple challenges of poverty, unemployment and inequality that the country faces.
Broadly, our government needs to ensure policy certainty and clarity, and a regulatory environment that does not make it cumbersome for companies to make profits, create jobs and hire new people. For its part businesses should work tirelessly to raise capital for investments from domestic markets, to drive higher inclusive growth and employment creation.
Labour leaders need to understand the importance of creating a stable and harmonious industrial relations environment by embracing the balloting of members before embarking on strikes, ensuring that their members adhere to picketing rules, and do not resort to violence and damage of property during strikes. Workers also need to link their wage demands to inflation increases and productivity improvements.
After more than 20 years of democracy, FEDUSA believes that economic opportunities in our country should not continue be enjoyed by a few privileged families and individuals but rather that it is time that government moves with speed to remove structural impediments that constrain the broader participation of black companies and communities in the economy.
Specifically, the business models of most, even not all lucrative food and retail fuel franchises in South Africa today are highly monopolistic and have put up stiff and rigid barriers to entry by black companies and individuals in the form of prohibitive unencumbered cash requirements, demands of track records spanning many years, in addition to heavy shopping mall rentals of more than R30 000 a month.
Needless to say, shopping malls and petrol stations across the length and breadth our country are concentrated in the hands of a few well-known brands, most of them owned by multi-national companies.
Issued by Dennis George, General Secretary, Federation of Unions of SA (Fedusa)