Productivity month staff address by Productivity SA Board Chairman, Prof Mthunzi Mdwaba, Productivity month launch 2021

Programme Director, Ms. Lalane Janse Van Rensburg, Executive Manager: Region 1
Management Consultant, Educationalist and renowned Motivational Speaker, Dr David Molapo
Lecturers in Industrial Psychology and People Management, College of Business and Economics, University of Johannesburg Dr Renjini Joseph and Ms. Neo Mamathuba
My Fellow Productivity SA Board Members
Productivity SA CEO, Mr. Mothunye Mothiba and all Productivity SA Executive Management
Productivity SA Staff
Ladies and Gentlemen
Fellow South Africans
Good Morning

“Quality is not an act, quality is a habit” – Aristotle. Over the years as we have tried to galvanise all South Africans to become productivity ambassadors and practitioners, our belief and thrust has been that productivity improvement should not be an act we put on only during Productivity Month, but a habit we harness at all times. As we launch Productivity month this year within the context of the second year gripped in a Covid pandemic, we must intensify this and ensure that we take everyone with us on this very critical educational and productivity drive.

Productivity goes hand in glove with the ability to adapt, and the fact that today we are hosting a hybrid event in which some colleagues are connecting remotely, and others are at the Productivity SA offices shows that despite the difficult circumstances, there is always a way. We just need to find it, and most importantly, collaborate, collaborate, collaborate in order to ensure sustainability and resilience. Hence colleagues, we have chosen the theme for 2021 as “Resilience, Regroup, and Rebuild: During and Post Covid-19.” This is also aligned with the recent decisions of the ILO, adopted at the 2021 ILC on Post-Covid interventions required for rebuilding and re-calibrating our economies.

The theme (3Rs) highlights the need for Resilience, which requires Regrouping through collaboration of multi-disciplinary partners to Rebuild a faster and sustained inclusive growth, with productivity growth and transformative innovation.

Charity begins at home and we must walk the talk. I am humbled today to address Productivity SA staff because the task of spurring economic growth and catapulting South Africa into high levels of productivity starts with you. At a later stage, the Productivity Month Launch will be communicated countrywide but as a start it is very important for us to embrace Productivity Month as productivity practitioners.

As the Oriental proverb goes “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” I believe that as a productivity improvement organisation, we should adopt that mindset as turning companies around is very fulfilling. Saving jobs is as fulfilling, with the creation of jobs, the most fulfilling. Today marks another building block in that process.

We cannot do this work alone though, and it is critical to have our colleagues at our department, the Department of Employment and Labour, being on the same page as us and to galvanise all of government and all our social partners to be aligned. Yesterday, The Minister of Finance, Enoch Godongwana, speaking at the Sunday Times Investment Dialogue, and reflecting on a recent criticism by his friend and billionaire Rob Hersov, said, “his comments were a wake-up call, and that tough talks will be necessary with both business and labour about “hard choices” that need to be made in order for business and the economy to grow” …and emphasised that government had to remove barriers for growth and investment for business as an urgent priority.”

The question is, how many wake-up calls do we need more than the out of control unemployment that we keep promising to attend to and resolve? How many times are we going to talk about hard choices before we act in accordance with this and make the hard choices for real? Why are we always galvanised to say the right things (and never do them) only when someone like Rob Hersov says, This is our government and if they’re destroying the country, vote them out.”?! How do we operate in a world where our own leadership gets upset and personal when you tell them the truth and seek to assist the country?

As Productivity SA, we have been knocking hard on all the doors of government and providing a way forward for how we can have a true Employment and Labour Department, rather than the old Labour Department and no one moves with the requisite urgency and speed. We also were amongst the first to write up a Covid interventionist strategy to preserve and catapult the economy and again we run around like head-less chicken fighting fires, BUT refusing to accept the obvious. The obvious is to do what Enoch Gondongwana says, but more importantly, placing productivity at the centre of everything we do, which as Productivity SA we can show them and do with them.

What must it take for us to really wake up?? It is also Aristotle who says, “Poverty is the parent of revolution and crime.” AND it is Albert Einstein or, so it is believed he said, Insanity: is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

I know we have a few stakeholders amongst us and in the drive to ensure productivity improvement is implemented countrywide, Productivity SA has seen a fair number of new colleagues join us, partnering with us. We are making progress, but cannot do this without the support required, financial and otherwise. I would like to give a bit of background on Productivity Month.

The 1st of October marks Productivity Month in South Africa. Productivity Month was first launched over almost two decades ago by Productivity SA and the Department of Employment and Labour (DEL). The aim of Productivity Month is to run an awareness campaign to promote productivity growth and improvement in South Africa. This entails sustained communication and dissemination of productivity related information, which drives improved competitiveness and ultimately results in improved prosperity for all.

As part of this, Productivity SA has over the years dedicated the month of October to vigorously drive the productivity movement and have declared the month of October as “Productivity month” in South Africa. Productivity Month is an annual campaign which aims to elevate the importance of productivity and inculcate a culture of competitiveness in every South African and demonstrate the positive changes that can be brought about through productivity improvement.

The objective of Productivity Month is primarily the promotion of the importance of productivity to every South African and to highlight productivity as a catalyst for sustained inclusive growth and development as well as the creation of decent jobs. Productivity month aims to inculcate a productivity culture and mind-set in all that we do as a country and society.

During Productivity month, the significance of productivity as a driver of competitiveness and a fundamental bedrock for sustainable growth and job creation is brought to the fore through a series of awareness campaigns, workshops and seminars. The broader objectives of Productivity Month are:
• To promote a culture of productivity in the country
• To raise awareness about the potential role of productivity in growing and developing the South African economy
• To promote Productivity SA programmes
• To increase South Africa‘s competitiveness

From the Board perspective, our vision is very clear and one of our key aims is to ensure Productivity SA remains relevant and financially sustainable, adequately funded with parliament allocating sufficient funds as required, which we are far from today as I speak to you and also generating as much revenue as possible for the organisation to contribute to its sustainability and resilience. It cannot do this, when our priorities as the country are as messed up as they are. We must all agitate for change, and it must be change now!! I take this opportunity to challenge all government departments, business organisations and trade unions, remembering that we are a tripartite board that has all the social partners, to mention productivity at every opportunity and also challenge the President who comes into our lounges a lot these days to make announcements, to talk about productivity for the first time ever as he has not done so thus far.

Times are hard and Productivity SA needs to create revenue streams that will see the entity grow. One of the focus areas that can assist is creating fruitful partnerships. During the 2020/21 financial year, Productivity SA went on a drive to harness the strengths of strategic partners and alliances from different corners of our ecosystem as one of the most strategic ways through which we can scale our innovation and deliver value to the market we serve.

We are beginning to see a positive response from strategic partners in the private sector, which is confirmed by the MOA/Us signed with organised business (BUSA, BBC and SACCI) government departments and entities in the economic cluster (AIDC, CCMA, ELSEZ, LEDET, LEDA, TIKZN), organised labour (SACTWU), academia (TUT and UWC), and international partners including the ILO. This is a huge milestone, and we need to continue with such an approach to position Productivity SA as a hub to spur economic growth and job creation

Let us spread the word and be productivity ambassadors and practitioners all of us! Follow us on all social media platforms and feel free to make suggestions and comment so we can all improve together and rebuild together.

I now officially launch Productivity Month. I thank all staff, friends of our organisation and all our partners for being part of the productivity movement.