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Jobs summit starts while businesses plan to cut jobs
Date: 5 October 2018 Category: Economics |
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As the much discussed and mooted "Jobs summit" got underway in South Africa in which business, labour, government and citizen groups discussed possible ways to reduce the persistently high levels of unemployment in South Africa, a certain listed firm announced plans to restructure and job cuts forms part of it.
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Is the Jobs summit a waste of time and money?
One has to wonder whether a summit on jobs is really actually going to lead to jobs being created in South Africa? Talking about a problem is one thing, coming up with potential solutions and implementing them is quiet another. And while President Cyril Rampahosa blamed State Capture and of course Apartheid for the poor economic performance of South Africa one cannot help but wonder if these two reasons are used as scapegoats to hide the fact that ANC policies just aren't geared towards economic growth and job creation in South Africa.
When you threaten to take people and businesses land without paying for it, you are scaring people, capital and future investments off. All three of which is required in order to grow, sustain and develop South Africa's economy. No this policy of expropriation without compensation did not come about because of State Capture, and sure it is partly the fault of Apartheid which lead to this skewed land ownership in South Africa. But the mere threat of taking without compensating will keep foreign and local investments at bay, which will hamper economic growth, which wont to job creation any favours. In fact during the 2nd quarter of 2018, South Africa lost almost 70 000 formal sector jobs. And things are sure to get worse. On the 3rd of October 2018 news broke that Liberty Group is looking to restructure and potential job losses will occur.
The following was published on Sharenet.co.za
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African Insurer Liberty Holdings is considering job cuts as part of a wider restructuring of its business, the company said on Wednesday. Liberty began consultations on Sept. 27 about possible jobs cuts that would affect its South African business and expects to complete them this year."We are unable to provide details around job implications at this stage as we are currently engaged in a consultation process," the lender said in an email. Local online news website Moneyweb, said 800 jobs could be at risk, citing staff at the organisation. The company, whose rivals local include Discovery and Sanlam, said last year it would slow its expansion and focus on higher margin products, as part of a process of implementing a turnaround strategy. The insurer said the new strategy would allow resources to be directed into its competitive South African business.
Original article: Click here
The following was published on Sharenet.co.za
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African Insurer Liberty Holdings is considering job cuts as part of a wider restructuring of its business, the company said on Wednesday. Liberty began consultations on Sept. 27 about possible jobs cuts that would affect its South African business and expects to complete them this year."We are unable to provide details around job implications at this stage as we are currently engaged in a consultation process," the lender said in an email. Local online news website Moneyweb, said 800 jobs could be at risk, citing staff at the organisation. The company, whose rivals local include Discovery and Sanlam, said last year it would slow its expansion and focus on higher margin products, as part of a process of implementing a turnaround strategy. The insurer said the new strategy would allow resources to be directed into its competitive South African business.
Original article: Click here
One can talk about problems and potential reasons for it, but doing something about fixing them is South Africa's biggest problem. We can have summits, commissions of inquiries, investigations, forums you name it. But until actually steps are taken to address matters such as arresting this implicated in state capture, providing new jobs to the youth, ensuring efficient spending of state resources, implementing policies that are business and investment friendly, talking will get South Africa nowhere. Time for talking is done. Its time to do something.