Gordhan: Better living conditions for miners

Johannesburg - Better living conditions are needed in the mining sector, which plays an important role in the economy, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said on Tuesday.

"All of us need to do what we can to reintroduce stability... so that that part of the community can continue to create jobs, continue with investments... but also give workers better living conditions," he said at Fedusa's collective bargaining conference in Roodepoort.

"I think we are not working hard enough to address the migrant labour issues," he said.

Change was easy to speak about but the reality was different, said Gordhan, who will be presenting his National Budget speech to parliament next week.

Debate on the National Development Plan was done with and the time had come for implementation, he said.

He spoke in detail about the G20 summit in Sydney, Australia, this weekend saying the global economy and growth would be discussed.

His Cabinet colleague Public Enterprises Minister Malusi Gigaba was working on a document on what was and was not acceptable regarding wage gaps between workers and executives. That document would be ready soon.

Economist Mike Schüssler told delegates South Africa was a middle income country, where only 59% of households had someone working.