Chairperson and hon members, the introduction of the 2011- 12 World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Report states that -
policymakers are struggling to find ways to manage the present economic challenges while preparing their economies to perform well in an increasingly complex global landscape.
South Africa is no exception, as its policymakers have to steer our ship to safety in a very difficult global economic environment. It is a pity, ladies and gentlemen, that when we discuss a very important topic like this, the House is almost empty, because we are really discussing some of the weaknesses that need our attention. Now people are not here. I don't know what reasons people will give when we really do some introspection, because we are really doing introspection here, and people do not want to look at themselves, to look deeper into themselves, so that we can correct our mistakes and forge forward with pride.
It is not surprising that our performance in this report consists of a mixed bag of successes and failures. For example, according to this report, South Africa is ranked first out of 142 countries in respect of the regulation of securities exchanges. We are ranked first in respect of auditing and reporting, and our banks are ranked second in the world for soundness. These are some of the good things that we must really listen to and pat ourselves on the back for, but people are not here.
The fact we are ranked fourth on financial market development is a good reason for us to pat ourselves on the back for a job well done. However, the fact that we ranked 95th on labour market efficiency, ranked 138th for rigid hiring and firing practices, and ranked 138th for lack of flexibility in wage determination clearly shows that our labour laws are too rigid, and they need to be relaxed. In their current form, our labour laws make it difficult for employers to fire workers even when absolutely necessary, which deters rather than attracts investors.
The rigidity of our labour laws has caused many businesses, big and small, to mechanise. In cases where mechanisation proves too expensive, business owners try to keep the number of employees below certain minimum thresholds, which means they end up employing fewer people than they potentially could. Unless we address these problems, government's job creation effort will continue to fall short of expectations. Thank you very much for the one minute extra you gave me, but I still wanted an extra minute. Thank you very much. [Time expired.]