Chairperson, my thanks go to the hon Trollip. We as a country do not have an accepted definition of "decent work". The National Planning Commission uses the International Labour Organisation, ILO, definition; I just want to share that definition with the House. It reads:
Decent work has been defined by the ILO ...
Mr Chairman, I beg your pardon, sir. On a point of order: You have actually jumped two questions. We should be dealing now with Question 88, and in actual fact we are dealing with the wrong question at this stage.
What has the hon Ellis got against me, Chair? Can he own up to that? [Laughter.]
Yes, hon Minister, I think hon Ellis is correct.
But what has he got against me, Chairperson? [Laughter.]
Mr Chairman, the only thing I have got against him is that I wanted a Minister who could answer questions properly to stand up first. [Laughter.]
I think he intends giving you more time to look at the question! My apologies there. According to this Question Paper, yes, it is Question 88: Ms M F Tlake to ask the Minister of Women, Children and People with Disabilities.
Measures to reach and uplift women in rural areas
88. Ms M F Tlake (ANC) asked the Minister of Women, Children and People with Disabilities:
What measures do her department intend to implement in order to reach and uplift women in rural areas through its mandate to develop and empower women? NO2332E
The MINISTER OF WOMEN, CHILDREN AND PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES: Thank you, Chair. The Department of Women, Children and People with Disabilities held a national Rural Women's Summit on 13 and 14 May 2011 in Tzaneen, Limpopo. More than 450 delegates representing women from different provinces, organisations and other relevant stakeholders attended the summit. The purpose of the summit was to create a platform where rural women could articulate their challenges, concerns and needs in a collaborative way. Rural women also made an input during the National Women's Conference that was held from 1 to 3 August 2011.
The department will be running road shows in different provinces, where we will inform rural women in particular about departmental programmes and plans. We will also have provincial summits, starting from September this year. Here, rural women will be able to come out and make an input in regard to the plan of action for their empowerment. We will be working with the Departments of Rural Development and Land Reform, Agriculture, Social Development, Energy, Water and Environmental Affairs, and Transport in order to address some of the key priorities and concerns that have been raised by rural women, both at the summit and at the national conference.
The areas of concern are: access to finance; access to land; access to markets for their products; and access to energy, water and roads, particularly rural roads. We will be working with the Department of Trade and Industry to encourage rural women to set up co-operatives and small, medium and micro enterprises, SMMEs, that will assist them in creating jobs.
We are working with the Department of Economic Development to ensure that women also benefit from the job opportunities that will be created in the various sectors that have been identified in the New Growth Path, and also in the job fund that was announced by the President in his state of the nation address. I thank you, Chairperson.
Hon Chairperson, I withdraw my follow-up question, because the Minister has already answered the question by saying that a conference was held where rural women were involved, and there are means, such as networking with other departments and road shows. So, I withdraw, with due respect.
Chairperson, hon Minister, I am quite aware of the summit and the number of Ministers who committed themselves to the sectors in the Ministry of Women, Children and People with Disabilities. However, I would like to know how many formal memorandums of understanding, MOUs, have been signed with the relevant national departments, especially with regard to the transferring of skills and economic empowerment of women in rural areas. Thank you.
The MINISTER OF WOMEN, CHILDREN AND PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES: Chairperson, we have signed an MOU with the Minister of Health to look at campaigns where we will fight HIV and Aids, and particularly their impact on women and children. We are also in the process of signing an agreement, an Mou, with the Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform. Our directors- general are talking, and they are finalising the plan for a women's rural development strategy.
We are also talking to the Minister of Economic Development, Minister Patel. Our directors-general are finalising a document that will ensure that the New Growth Path is indeed genderised, and that it has targets that will be inclusive of gender in terms of the five million jobs that we have committed to in the next 10 years. We are saying that 50% of those jobs - and even more - should go to women and young women.
We are also looking at various enterprises, including the Industrial Development Corporation, IDC, and Khula, to ensure that they will prioritise women's projects in terms of funding. I thank you.
Hon Chairperson, the Minister listed a number of challenges that confront rural women in their efforts to improve their lot. Amongst these she identified the lack of access to funding and the lack of markets. What we would like to know is how the Minister helped in those instances. Thank you.
The MINISTER OF WOMEN, CHILDREN AND PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES: Chairperson, we had a National Women's Conference from 1 to 3 August, and we invited most of the Ministers to come and share with the women the opportunities that are available and the programmes in their departments.
I think over 15 Ministers came to the conference. One of them was the Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform. He assured women that access to land would be a priority, and that the recapitalisation fund and Comprehensive Agricultural Support Programme, Casp, and other funding in the agricultural sector would target rural women. We also had Minister Patel, who came to the conference. He assured us, as I said, that over 50% of the jobs would go to women, and over 50% of funding from Khula would go to women.
Ours, therefore, hon member, will be to monitor and ensure that what the Ministers have pledged and committed to is actually done. We had the Ministers of Energy and Mineral Resources, and the Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry - so many of them were there. All we are going to do is to follow up and ensure that they keep to their pledges and they actually deliver to the rural women in our country. Thank you.
Government strategy to avert involvement of essential services workers in future strikes 84. Dr H C van Schalkwyk (DA) asked the Minister for the Public Service and Administration:
Whether the Government, as an employer, has any strategy in place to avert the involvement of essential services workers in future strikes; if not, why not; if so, what strategy? NO2323E
Thank you very much, hon Chairperson. Collective bargaining processes provide for a mechanism to develop a plan to manage the involvement of essential services workers in industrial action. The plan is referred to as a minimum service dispensation. It is meant to ensure that, whereas workers in general have a right to strike, essential services workers have to have their rights balanced with the nature of their work.
We identified categories of workers that are considered essential services workers and gazetted such accordingly. This plan, the minimum service dispensation, has not yet been agreed upon at the collective bargaining council level and we are due to finalise this soon.
Yesterday, at around two o'clock, 81% of unions participating in the Public Service Co-ordinating Bargaining Council, PSCBC, signed a resolution together with us as the government and employer to address this matter. We agreed that we needed to elevate the consideration of this matter to party principals. All that means is that when it comes to the issue of dealing with essential services and having to find a dispensation that will be workable so that there is no disruption of such services, party principals have to lead the process.
This is a breakthrough, because all that it means is that instead of dealing with this matter as an ordinary matter of negotiations, we will actually be dealing with it at a much higher level. I am leading that process and we are looking at concluding this matter by December this year. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Chair. Hon Minister, we obviously acknowledge the constitutional right of workers to strike but, as you mentioned in your response, this question refers to essential services workers. If this category of workers strike, people's lives are very often at stake. Just as striking is a constitutional right, Minister, so is the right to live. What is the Minister going to do about essential services workers compromising people's lives in the short term and in the long term? I appreciate, Minister, that you have partly responded to that.
Thank you very much. I fully agree with hon member Van Schalkwyk that the situation of essential workers is a very serious one and that we need to address it.
It is for that reason that we are saying that we need to find a mechanism to deal with this. It is international best practice that when you deal with a situation where on the one hand the constitution grants rights to people, including essential workers, and on the other hand you have to balance that with the provisions of the labour relations dispensation, in dealing with issues related to essential services you have to be mindful that those services that hon Van Schalkwyk is referring to are not disrupted. The question that the hon Schalkwyk is asking is a very important one. That is why we are saying that we are dealing with it. Let us all soil our hands and come December let us have a dispensation, and it will be fine.
I can guarantee that the 81,8% support of this year's negotiations by our unions yesterday suggests that as of now we are not anticipating a strike based on this and other demands. Therefore, we are safe to move forward until we find a new dispensation without having to actually experience such disruptions. Thank you very much.
Scope of the term "decent work"; and position of NPC regarding decreased labour market regulations 85. The Leader of the Opposition (DA) asked the Minister in the Presidency: National Planning Commission:
(1) What does the term "decent work" include as referred to in its diagnostic document and elements of the vision statement for 2030;
(2) why has the National Planning Commission, NPC, identified the creation of decent work as a key issue to be included in its vision statement, rather than simply focusing on job creation;
(3) whether, in light of the NPC's finding that South Africa's labour regulations have negative unintended consequences, the NPC intends to investigate a labour regime of decreasing labour market regulations as a means of stimulating employment; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?