Employment Services of South Africa is slow and inefficient. Equivalent government-run employment services in Germany and the United Kingdom are staffed by over 70 000 people. Does Minister Oliphant seriously believe that the current staff complement of around 500 people is going to cut it? Minister, your department is not prepared for this Bill and, Minister, the country cannot afford this Bill. Instead, government must create the conditions for job creation and allow private recruitment agencies to find the right candidate to fill them.
The Government should not be the country's largest recruiter as well as its largest recruitment agency. This is a model for failure and one of the main reasons why we are stuck with an abysmal unemployment rate. The ANC government keeps trying to employ people instead of creating the conditions for the private sector to employ people.
This Bill is another blow to the struggling private sector and an asphyxiated labour market. The Minister now has the power to make a regulation that employers must notify her department of any vacancies, or face a R50 000 fine. This creates an extra burden on companies instead of helping them to grow and create more jobs.
In a country wracked with xenophobic tendencies, it is astonishing that the Minister thinks it is a good idea for her to have the sole power to regulate the employment of foreigners. This will only contribute further to the shortage of exceptional skills in the country when the country has a skills deficit of 829 000, according to Adcorp's 2012 review.
The DA cannot support this misguided approach to solving the most important problems facing South Africa today. It is time to put the focus back on jobs so that we can, once and for all, redress the wrongs of the past. I thank you. [Applause.]