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Cape Town - Pick n Pay Stores [JSE:PIK] chairperson Gareth Ackerman on Wednesday said the South African media often treats blatant crooks with mildness and politeness, and that he would welcome a much more critical media of a government that frequently casts a tolerant eye on lapses and corruption.
Addressing the Cape Town Press Club, Ackerman said: "Compared with the media in many other countries, our newspapers are by and large remarkably restrained in the acerbity of their comment and the readiness with which they intrude upon the privacy of citizens.
"They can generally be relied upon to report accurately and to correct errors when these are made. They have voluntarily bound themselves to a code of conduct and demonstrated a willingness to submit readily to orders of the Press Ombudsman and the Press Appeals Panel."
He also said that the protection of information bill, which was currently being debated in parliament, represented a clear and present threat to the country's ability to debate issues and make informed decisions about them.
"A specific lingering concern is the over-broad and ambiguous definition of what constitutes national security and over-broad grounds for classification," he said.
Ackerman said the definition would include such classification as "the exposure of economic, scientific or technological secrets" to extend the scope of the draft law beyond the bounds of reason.
"But, above all, I am troubled by the impact of media-bashing on international perceptions of South Africa as an investment destination. Already, there is evidence that the perceived limitation on media freedom - combined with wild talk about the nationalisation of mining assets without compensation - is being negatively viewed by the international markets on which we rely for investment and confidence," he said.
Leadership needed
Ackerman said leadership in government policymaking is needed and that it should try to avoid flying trial balloons.
"Proper engagement with those of us in business who fuel the economy needs to take place, and take place fast, in recognising our role as South Africans with a legitimate and very real interest - not as bystanders," he said.
Ackerman said this engagement needed to reflect an environment of mutual respect where letters, such as those he wrote to President Jacob Zuma on the media bill, were actually answered or at least acknowledged.
"One of the results of government's prevarication has been the threat posed to inflation targets by unsustainable wage settlements in the public sector and by extraordinary increases in administered prices such as electricity," he said.
Ackerman pointed out that public sector remuneration rose by a total of 29.4% year-on-year in the 2009/10 financial year, due to substantially higher salaries and the employment of additional civil servants who were, once again, on a wage strike.
"The risk implicit in such increases by parastatals and state departments is that it sets a benchmark for private sector negotiations and must inevitably worsen unemployment, particularly in labour intensive sectors such as agriculture, mining and manufacturing," he said.
Citing the World Economic Forum's warning that South Africa's rigid hiring and firing practices rank as the fifth-worst in the world, Ackerman said: "It is therefore no wonder that an increasing number of enterprises are moving towards mechanised modes of production, in order to escape the burdens of an inflexible labour regime.
"The result of this is that, despite government's repeated commitment to job-creation, the labour intensity of production for South Africa has fallen by 16% since 1994."
"What South Africa is crying out for is labour flexibility. It is this, perhaps more than anything, which will create sustainable and decent jobs."
Addressing the Cape Town Press Club, Ackerman said: "Compared with the media in many other countries, our newspapers are by and large remarkably restrained in the acerbity of their comment and the readiness with which they intrude upon the privacy of citizens.
"They can generally be relied upon to report accurately and to correct errors when these are made. They have voluntarily bound themselves to a code of conduct and demonstrated a willingness to submit readily to orders of the Press Ombudsman and the Press Appeals Panel."
He also said that the protection of information bill, which was currently being debated in parliament, represented a clear and present threat to the country's ability to debate issues and make informed decisions about them.
"A specific lingering concern is the over-broad and ambiguous definition of what constitutes national security and over-broad grounds for classification," he said.
Ackerman said the definition would include such classification as "the exposure of economic, scientific or technological secrets" to extend the scope of the draft law beyond the bounds of reason.
"But, above all, I am troubled by the impact of media-bashing on international perceptions of South Africa as an investment destination. Already, there is evidence that the perceived limitation on media freedom - combined with wild talk about the nationalisation of mining assets without compensation - is being negatively viewed by the international markets on which we rely for investment and confidence," he said.
Leadership needed
Ackerman said leadership in government policymaking is needed and that it should try to avoid flying trial balloons.
"Proper engagement with those of us in business who fuel the economy needs to take place, and take place fast, in recognising our role as South Africans with a legitimate and very real interest - not as bystanders," he said.
Ackerman said this engagement needed to reflect an environment of mutual respect where letters, such as those he wrote to President Jacob Zuma on the media bill, were actually answered or at least acknowledged.
"One of the results of government's prevarication has been the threat posed to inflation targets by unsustainable wage settlements in the public sector and by extraordinary increases in administered prices such as electricity," he said.
Ackerman pointed out that public sector remuneration rose by a total of 29.4% year-on-year in the 2009/10 financial year, due to substantially higher salaries and the employment of additional civil servants who were, once again, on a wage strike.
"The risk implicit in such increases by parastatals and state departments is that it sets a benchmark for private sector negotiations and must inevitably worsen unemployment, particularly in labour intensive sectors such as agriculture, mining and manufacturing," he said.
Citing the World Economic Forum's warning that South Africa's rigid hiring and firing practices rank as the fifth-worst in the world, Ackerman said: "It is therefore no wonder that an increasing number of enterprises are moving towards mechanised modes of production, in order to escape the burdens of an inflexible labour regime.
"The result of this is that, despite government's repeated commitment to job-creation, the labour intensity of production for South Africa has fallen by 16% since 1994."
"What South Africa is crying out for is labour flexibility. It is this, perhaps more than anything, which will create sustainable and decent jobs."
