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Pretoria - The proposed changes to the country's labour laws are the "antithesis of job creation", President Jacob Zuma was told at the opening of the Presidential Summit on Job Creation in Pretoria on Friday.
"These changes will not promote employment, and constitute a full frontal assault on competitiveness," said Business Unity SA (Busa) president Futhi Mtoba.
She said the experience of business during the recent economic recession in dealing with "the inflexibility of our labour market" had left its mark.
"This inflexibility was manifested by protracted and costly negotiations with the labour unions.
"Now, with recovery in sight, most employers are very cautious as they expand their workforce," she said.
The summit was originally set down for March 10, but Zuma said it was postponed by the government so it could deal with the crises in North Africa and the Ivory Coast.
Zuma said South Africa's previous growth period had "not been strong on job creation" and that the current growth was still slow by international standards.
"The responsibility of business is to grow and to create jobs. The role of government is to create the conditions to encourage the kind of growth that creates jobs," Zuma said.
He said the government was implementing policies for job creation, including fair labour practices.
Members of Zuma's cabinet were in attendance at the summit, as were business leaders.
Mtoba urged the government to create a climate of "certainty and predictability".
"Certainty and predictability make investment decisions easier. As such, we need to promote certainty and predictability."
She said that reversing job losses in the mining sector would require investors to have a long-term title to their claims, as well as a reliable power supply.
Referring to rural development, she said: "We need to accept that promoting jobs in agriculture and agro-processing will require certainty of land tenure and rural infrastructure development."
Zuma said he would meet with labour leaders on April 19.
After the summit, Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies said there "was a high level of consensus" on the need to create more jobs in the next 10 years.
He said an agreement had been reached that there needed to be engagement between business and government at presidential level.
Davies said the government "took note" of the concerns Mtoba raised in her opening address regarding land tenure, the mining industry and labour reform.
"We know that there are issues that business doesn't agree with government on and there are issues labour that doesn't agree with government on," he said.
"The focus of the social dialogue is to identify the issues where we do have substantial agreement and where we can make progress."
Busa CEO Jerry Vilakazi said that overall agreement had been reached between business and the government that jobs needed to be created.
"There was overall consensus that we need to work towards issues that block us from being globally competitive as we should be."
He described the talks as productive, and said Busa was satisfied with the government's agreed engagement with business.
Both men said a further meeting between the government and business would be convened in the near future.
"These changes will not promote employment, and constitute a full frontal assault on competitiveness," said Business Unity SA (Busa) president Futhi Mtoba.
She said the experience of business during the recent economic recession in dealing with "the inflexibility of our labour market" had left its mark.
"This inflexibility was manifested by protracted and costly negotiations with the labour unions.
"Now, with recovery in sight, most employers are very cautious as they expand their workforce," she said.
The summit was originally set down for March 10, but Zuma said it was postponed by the government so it could deal with the crises in North Africa and the Ivory Coast.
Zuma said South Africa's previous growth period had "not been strong on job creation" and that the current growth was still slow by international standards.
"The responsibility of business is to grow and to create jobs. The role of government is to create the conditions to encourage the kind of growth that creates jobs," Zuma said.
He said the government was implementing policies for job creation, including fair labour practices.
Members of Zuma's cabinet were in attendance at the summit, as were business leaders.
Mtoba urged the government to create a climate of "certainty and predictability".
"Certainty and predictability make investment decisions easier. As such, we need to promote certainty and predictability."
She said that reversing job losses in the mining sector would require investors to have a long-term title to their claims, as well as a reliable power supply.
Referring to rural development, she said: "We need to accept that promoting jobs in agriculture and agro-processing will require certainty of land tenure and rural infrastructure development."
Zuma said he would meet with labour leaders on April 19.
After the summit, Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies said there "was a high level of consensus" on the need to create more jobs in the next 10 years.
He said an agreement had been reached that there needed to be engagement between business and government at presidential level.
Davies said the government "took note" of the concerns Mtoba raised in her opening address regarding land tenure, the mining industry and labour reform.
"We know that there are issues that business doesn't agree with government on and there are issues labour that doesn't agree with government on," he said.
"The focus of the social dialogue is to identify the issues where we do have substantial agreement and where we can make progress."
Busa CEO Jerry Vilakazi said that overall agreement had been reached between business and the government that jobs needed to be created.
"There was overall consensus that we need to work towards issues that block us from being globally competitive as we should be."
He described the talks as productive, and said Busa was satisfied with the government's agreed engagement with business.
Both men said a further meeting between the government and business would be convened in the near future.
