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Cosatu slams new state commissions

Johannesburg - The newly-established infrastructure and job creation commissions will fail unless public officials get training and South Africa's economic structure is fixed, Cosatu said on Wednesday.

"There are, however, two serious problems which the government will have to confront if these two commissions are to start to reduce unemployment and poverty," the trade union federation's spokesperson Patrick Craven said in a statement.

The first problem is public officials incapable of implementing government policies, resulting in unspent budgets and vacant posts.

"Unless this problem is resolved, new projects initiated by the new commissions may meet the same fate," Craven said.

"Part of the solution must be a crash programme of training managers and developing their project management and human resource development skills."

Craven said the deep structural problems underlying unemployment and poverty are an even more fundamental issue.

"These have been identified by both Cosatu and in the government's new growth path document as the economic structure we inherited from colonialism and apartheid, which is over-dependent on the export of raw materials rather than on manufacturing industry," he said.

Conservative macroeconomic policies which maintain high interest rates have worsened the situation and been a major disincentive to investment in job-creating projects, Craven said.

In addition, the premature abolition of tariff barriers led to a loss of jobs and manufacturing capacity in industries such as clothing and textiles.

Cabinet announced last week that it would set up an infrastructure development commission headed by President Jacob Zuma and a job creation commission headed by Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe.

The infrastructure commission would ensure systematic selection, planning and monitoring of large projects to improve the capacity of state agencies to deliver infrastructure.

A small, high-level team would focus on proposed changes and regulations to unblock private sector projects with a substantial impact on employment investment.

     
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