Chair, it is my time now. Last year at about this time the ACDP was saying that to boost employment and raise the economic growth rate, South Africa requires changes to labour law regulations that will provide for high labour productivity as well as a link between productivity and remuneration. I remember saying that when most people are employed, exploitation becomes less of an issue because workers can be bad employees without the risk of unemployment.
All that may be true, and I am sure that it is. However, let us face it. It is simply not going to happen. Therefore, to be practical we should consider that the ruling party and its alliance partners are extremely unlikely to consider relaxing our labour laws. Our focus as a result is to make sure that we do not decide to tighten them unnecessarily. Our labour laws are strict and also well structured and to a large degree probably functional.
The problem we have is that our labour laws are not manned. We need therefore to spend more money on compliance and less on talking about amendments and changes. This year the ACDP is calling for the department to simply implement the laws we have. We have a Department of Labour and an inspectorate in the department - this inspectorate is under-resourced and has few employees who are mostly inadequately trained. This is where we must start and the Budget must enable the Minister to fix this.
Most of us would at least agree that our strong point is that the Basic Conditions of Employment Act regards health and safety, maternity leave, sick leave, etc, as the basics. When we go back to the basics and concentrate on what people really need and not on the agenda of unions trying to buy loyalties with ridiculous demands for more money, we will be closer to the mark.
One thing we can pride ourselves in regarding our labour laws is that we do not have sweatshops. We no longer have slave-type conditions but we must make sure that we hold on to this achievement. We must strengthen the inspectorate and everything to do with compliance. In yesterday's Finance debate the ACDP pointed out that the key challenge will be to control growth in the public sector wage bill, which has grown over the past five years from R156 billion to R314 billion. The biggest employer as well as the highest paying employer in South Africa today is the government.
There have been two watershed strikes in South Africa over the last six months in the platinum mines and in agriculture. Two things stood out as similar about these strikes. Firstly, no one saw them coming, at least no one who should have seen it coming, like the department. Why is it that there was no one at the ground to monitor compliance? Secondly, hon Minister, you were absent. I think that you were on a holiday and with regards to the agricultural strike you were at a seminar abroad.
Am I right to say that trade unions called to speak to you and they got no response? Institutions like the National Economic Development and Labour Council, Nedlac, and the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration, CCMA, were also not activated quickly enough. Our country cannot afford damaging industrial action, especially ... The ACDP supports the Vote. [Time expired.] [Applause.]