As the new government of South Africa starts to kick in and the ministers have been sworn in, we are beginning to see things happening.

New governments are notorious for taking a long time to get off the starting block, but in the world of labour and work, this appears not to be the case – the National Assembly has established 30 portfolio committees.

The portfolio committees are established under the Constitution and the rules of the National Assembly. The committees are the engine room of law and order in that they scrutinise and oversee the work of the executive (the ministers).

I am keenly waiting and watching the portfolio committee of employment and labour. The committee is tasked with the oversight of the Department of Employment and Labour and, in particular, the duties and functions of the department.

Every political party and the executive have agreed that job creation is vital for our country to pull itself out of much of the negativity we’ve seen for the past 30 years.

The Employment and Labour Committee has a big task ahead of it. It will be dealing with oversight, public participation, bills and other matters falling within the portfolio.

The committees are made up of 11 members drawn from various political parties. The responsibility of the members is enormous.

We have seen members of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s ministry moving forward, enabling the country to make sure that job creation is not just spoken about but happens.

This past week, we saw Minister Leon Schreiber state that work visas for highly skilled foreigners would become a priority in his ministry. In the past, I have written about the withholding of visas.

Minister of Home Affairs Leon Schreiber. Picture: Ayanda Ndamane/ Independent Newspapers

In engaging with the previous minister of employment and labour, I explained that withholding work visas for certain key individuals had retarded job creation enormously.

Many businesses I have dealt with have explained that the refusal to grant a visa to certain individuals has stopped the development of the business and expansion of the business and led to retrenchments down the line. In correspondence, I have given undertakings that some of the businesses would bring in the skilled employee who, in turn, would train and capacitate staff to perform the skilled function in the future.

Furthermore, for each skilled individual, the employer could create anything up to a dozen jobs of local employees. The vital move structured by Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber could engender thousands of new jobs and a whole new arena in our economy.

This has sent a message to the business community to start reinvesting in themselves. Over the past at least 15 years, economists and social engineers have noted that small businesses have been reluctant to expand and have been stymied in their expansion endeavours.

One of the key elements for this has been the lack of skilled labour. By a stroke of a pen, Minister Schreiber has sent a message to the entire business community to open their wallets and start spending to increase their capacity and their businesses.

The move has cost government nothing and has sent a message to foreign jurisdictions that South Africa is open for business. In my daily engagement with labour lawyers across South Africa, I’m getting the most fantastic positive feedback.

The labour legal community is small but has a deep reach into the manufacturing capabilities of our country. Those representing manufacturers have all expressed joy.

In talking to representatives at Nedlac, which is the negotiating arm of the Department of Employment and Labour, it too is feeling enormous positivity concerning the next five years of the Government of National Unity. The excitement among the small business owners is being felt across the country.

Likewise, Dean Macpherson, the new minister of public works and infrastructure, has come out guns blazing. He has said he would target government assets and make sure that they worked for the benefit of the country and were strictly focused on infrastructure development. That, in turn, would mean that the workforce of South Africa would be able to look forward to housing closer to where the jobs were available.

Minister Dean Macpherson. Photographer: Ayanda Ndamane/ Independent Newspapers

Minister Macpherson has assured South Africa that disadvantaged communities would soon have access to infrastructure to better where they lived.

* Michael Bagraim is a veteran labour lawyer.

** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.

Cape Argus

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