Annual General Meeting 2019
Productivity SA recently held the entity ‘s Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Midrand, Gauteng, which was attended by key stakeholders including the Department of Employment and Labour (DEL) as a shareholder, organised labour, members of business, members of the media and other stakeholders and strategic partners.
The Minister of Employment and Labour, Thulas Nxesi delivered a key note address. In his address, the Minister highlighted that the meeting comes at a critical point when the country was faced with a sluggish economy, amidst falling productivity, global uncertainty and rampant nationalistic protectionism, high unemployment – especially amongst the youth, persistent poverty and inequality, and a fourth industrial revolution which brings with it, disruption and new opportunities in equal measure.
The Minister also pointed that President’s pronouncement to expand the mandate of the then Department of Labour (DoL) to focus on employment and renaming it the Department of Employment and Labour (DeL) points to the President’s priorities – that of growth and jobs. He said in addition to championing the decent work and healthy industrial relations, the Department would also focus on implementing active labour market policies with the objectives of leveraging the resources to preserve and create jobs, as well as appropriate training and re-training which meets the skills demanded by the labour market.
Nxesi reiterated the Government’s intent to leverage the resources of the Unemployment Insurance Fund and the Compensation Fund to preserve and create jobs. He emphasised the need to promote synergies between the CCMA and Productivity SA to assist companies in distress.
“The reconfiguring of the Department to include Employment – must include an enhanced role for Productivity SA, which is already supporting and training small and micro enterprise businesses. We are also beefing up Public Employment Services to streamline the placement of work seekers (the roll-out of online Youth Centres providing a free service to employers and work seekers including psychometric testing, career counselling, generating of CV’s and verification of qualifications),” he said.
The outgoing Chairperson of the board, Prof. Mthunzi Mdwaba indicated that this change is a tangible demonstration that the sixth administration is resolute about improving the competitiveness of our economy to create decent jobs.
The reconfiguration of the Department to focus on employment strategically positions Productivity SA within the Labour Market System as an important labour market instrument to lead a productivity and competitiveness driven growth and development agenda for the country.
The Annual General Meeting discussed and adopted the following:
• Productivity SA Annual Report for the period 2018/19
• Productivity SA Annual Financial Statements for the period April 2018 – March 2019
• Productivity SA Performance Information for the period April 2018 – March 2019
• Productivity SA Annual Performance Plan and Budget for the period 2019/20
• Productivity SA Priorities for the period 2019/20
• Productivity SA Strategic Plan and Annual Performance Plan for the Medium-Term Strategic Framework 2019/20 – 2023/24
Outgoing Chairman of Productivity SA, Prof. Mthunzi Mdwaba said that whilst the past four years have not been plain sailing, as the outgoing board has been operating in ‘stormy waters’, he is encouraged that South Africa’s competitiveness has improved from 67 to 60. After 50 years of existence he said Productivity SA was destined to look into a new trajectory. The term of the board of Productivity SA comes to an end at the end of next month. The board would have served four years.
Mdwaba said what was disheartening for Productivity SA was the country’s high unemployment perched at 29 percent. He said “Productivity SA is poised to lead an economic growth driven by productivity”.