Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant has announced that the Equity Act will be amended, following a report by the South African Human Rights Commission that found some policies around affirmative action unconstitutional and not aligned with international best practice.

She said, in her opening address at the twenty-third yearly National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) Summit, that the department would “defend [the] gains” it had made thus far.

Oliphant also pointed out that Parliament had finalised the minimum wage legislation and submitted it to President Cyril Ramaphosa for approval.

After Ramaphosa has consulted with constitutional representatives, he will sign the legislation into law.

The National Minimum Wage Bill is anticipated to improve the lives of about 6.6-million workers, who currently earn less than R20/h.

Further, the Unemployment Insurance Act amendments have also been submitted to the President for approval. The Act was amended essentially as a result of organised labour wanting to contribute to job creation and establish schemes to empower retrenched workers.

Meanwhile, Deputy President David Mabuza, who delivered the keynote address at the summit, pledged government's commitment to bringing together government, labour, business and community structures for the common purpose of economic growth and job creation.

“Today, we meet in a time of great economic challenges facing our country, with declining revenues, sluggish economic growth [and] an inflation outlook that is increasingly perilous, coupled with high fuel prices and consumer and business confidence declining. Nedlac needs to collaboratively respond [and] work with government in assisting the National Treasury to develop measures to cushion the poor and restart the economy.

“Our country is known for its introduction of world-class policies, but also for the shortcoming of not implementing these policies,” he said, adding that South Africa’s inequality level and wage differences were too high.

Mabuza lamented that the country could no longer afford corruption, greed, squander and decay. He stressed that, just as government made the commitment to root out bad governance, so should Nedlac, business and public servants.

Mabuza added that preparatory work was at an advanced stage for the upcoming job and investment summits.

“Instead of focusing on industrialisation, we will be leveraging the potential of small and medium enterprises, ensuring their integration into the global value chain, [and] using them to provide a solid base for future indus- trialisation.”

Meanwhile, Nedlac executive director Madoda Vilakazi said 2017/18 was characterised by epoch-making developments and engagements at Nedlac.

The discussions on the National Health Insurance and Comprehensive Social Security had started in earnest. He expressed confidence that the agreements would conclude sometime in 2019, and bring the nation closer to the ideals of the Freedom Charter.

Despite serious capacity constraints, the work of Nedlac had gone up a few notches in terms of quality and quantity, said Vilakazi. A total of 42 committees and task teams engaged in executing the mandate of social dialogue.

In the year under review, Nedlac achieved 89% of the planned targets in the approved Annual Performance Plans.

Of the 47 planned key performance indicators, 42 had been achieved. Vilakazi noted that this was a great feat, given the chronic shortage of human and financial resources for the type of work that Nedlac did.

“In instances where targets were not met, it was primarily due to the complexity of matters and interminable, but justified, mandating and negotiating processes between and within social partners.”

Nedlac community convenor Thulani Tshefuta pointed out that, in light of the stubbornly high unemployment rate, it was clear that not all eligible South Africans could be absorbed into formal employment.

“Therefore, we have to promote the prospects of economic activity and self-employment through entrepreneurship and large-scale participation in cooperatives.”

He expressed the hope that the Nedlac governance team would move with precision in pursuing its long overdue task of reviewing the founding and institutional instruments that could reposition Nedlac to deepen social dialogue in South Africa.

Tshefuta assured that the Nedlac community constituency would continue to sound a clarion call for full and equal representation and participation in all Nedlac chambers and structures.

Moreover, Nedlac labour convenor Bheki Ntshalintshali stated that failure to confront the challenge of inequality in South Africa would result in the loss of potential gains from the “population dividends” and also lead to weak economic performance and even social problems.