By Bhekisisa Mncube
Durban – KwaZulu-Natal has become the first province to formally launch the Economic Council Forum in the country, which will lead to the signing of a Social Accord today.
The forum is described as an engine for developing partnership-based action plans aimed at building an economy that both generates wealth and transformation for all South Africans.
The Economic Council Forum comprises organised labour, the business sector, KZN Provincial Government and representatives of organised community based structures.
Speaking at the launch today, held at Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Economic Development and Tourism, Mike Mabuyakhulu, said the aim was to sign a Social Accord to accelerate economic development and job creation in an integrated manner.
He said the Social Accord was a partnership that came with great expectations.
He said business hoped the Accord would find new ways to make it easier to do business in the province, while the community sector hoped it would develop practical strategies to create more jobs and stimulate local economic development.
“From organised labour comes a host of hopes around addressing the frighteningly high unemployment rate and the pressure that undermines workers’ rights,” Mabuyakhulu said.
He said government looked to this social partnership to give clear guidance to provincial and local government on what more could be done to unlock the economic potential of the province.
Pushing for higher growth
However, Mabuyakhulu decried what he termed the “risk of despondency”, which arises from the fact that despite the bold route the country has taken over the last 13 years in following a rational and prudent macro-economic policy framework, “we have seen slow uptake of foreign fixed investment but not at the level which we anticipated.”
He said the country had not really reached the gross domestic product (GDP) growth figures it had targeted and it had not realised the levels of employment generation which it had hoped for.
Other risks of despondency, according to the MEC, included the dampened market sentiment, which has followed the international sub-prime financial crisis, and has had negative knock-on effects for most emerging markets seeking to attract investment.
The steady increases in internal rates of inflation - particularly food and transport costs - the corresponding increase in bank lending rates, the national electricity supply challenges and the resulting impact on the national psyche were other risk factors Mabuyakhulu cited.
He cautioned delegates that as the leadership of the province, they had to understand that the economic reconstruction road “which we decided to travel was much more of a marathon than a sprint”.
“We meet today to ensure the KZN Economic Council becomes an engine for developing partnership-based action plans aimed at building an economy that both generates wealth and transformation for all of our people,” he said.
It was critical, Mabuyakhulu said, that the province’s leadership provide a positive and constructive environment for business, labour and the community sector to work towards building a brighter future.
“We must all be aware that there is a real risk of growing despondency amongst many sectors of our society,” he warned. – SAnews.gov.za
