Chair, hon Minister, hon members, the newly appointed director-general, leaders of trade unions and other stakeholders who are present here, we want to focus on the fact that the labour laws amendments are an entrenchment of our democracy. These amendments also mean the deepening of freedom for the majority of workers who have a lot of confidence in the ANC-led government and the legislative process, as has been shown.
Unlike hon Ollis and the DA, we are not going to excitedly celebrate that six out of ten of the electorate voted for the ANC and reaffirmed its mandate, because we represent all South Africans. [Applause.] In fact, the one out of four is merely DA plus ID, so there is nothing new that we have seen. [Applause.] That is why earlier on we were not even worried about giving you the few minutes that were allocated to the ID, because you are just one and the same thing. There is no difference. We just saw a mathematical addition between the DA and the ID.
What is also important, which we must emphasise, is that we all agree that apartheid is dead; it was buried. Many in your bench did not like or celebrate the death of apartheid, but were happy to join your ranks because they find some level of compromise and flirting with the apartheid system. [Interjections.]
Although apartheid has died, many workers in the factories still experience and see the scars of apartheid. [Interjections.] They are born in them. [Interjections.] It is still there, and it is something that we cannot deny. It is the labour amendment laws that seek to reverse the scars of apartheid that are still there. For them, the factory has not changed. There is still a mlungu [bureaucrat], who is generally white, and there is still a low-ranked worker in the factory, who is generally black. So, that is what they see on a daily basis in practice. [Interjections.]
So, hon members of the DA cannot just come here and tell us we must accept that apartheid is dead without us basically going into the foundation of the fact that we still experience, as does many of our people, the consequences of apartheid 17 years later. In many instances, apartheid was perpetrated by the very same people whom the DA seeks to represent in this House. [Applause.]
The labour laws of this country will remain irrelevant to the majority of South Africans and workers if they do not seek to protect them and their rights. The freedom guaranteed through the struggles against apartheid and its defeat, and the ushering in of democracy in 1994, will remain meaningless if they are not for the protection of the majority of workers in this particular country.
A nucleus for the ANC's approach to change the conditions of the ordinary workers remains in the Freedom Charter which states:
All who work shall be free to form trade unions, to elect their officers and to make wage agreements with their employers.
This particular right is also stipulated in our Constitution and in the Labour Relations Act. Unfortunately, what we have seen from the DA and the IFP, is that when there is a lack of ideas on what we need to do in order to create jobs for the majority of our workers, the first point of attack has always remained the trade unions.
They wish to ensure that we protect the rights of chief executive officers to earn R60 million in bonuses while workers remain at the lower rung of the share in the economy of this country.
The Freedom Charter goes on to say:
The state shall recognise the right and duty of all to work.
As part of upholding all those responsibilities, the ANC says that the right to work does not mean to have a job and remain poor. That is what we have seen and that is why these discussions about the Labour Relations Amendment Bill remain, particularly in terms of the definition of who an employer is and who an employee is, but, more importantly, on the role of the labour brokers.
Yes, we agree that, in many instances, for workers who have never been able to have access to a job or who would ordinarily not have worked, there has been a facilitation of work through labour brokers. The reality is, however, that at the end of the day, the people who benefit from that kind of a relationship remain the labour brokers, while the workers mainly have only been able to get enough money to get to work. They can't even change the conditions which they find themselves in. If the so-called good labour brokers - and we want to continue to argue this stipulation in the policies gazetted - want to protect the worst of the labour brokers, then it means that we will have no option but to look again at this entire notion of allowing labour brokers to become the major beneficiaries of this kind of employment relationships, while workers themselves do not benefit.
There are allegations that have been repeated here. The notion that labour brokers create jobs is false. Labour brokers actually exist because there are vacancies to be filled. I think that we must not come here and drum up hysteria and say people are going to lose jobs just because there is a discussion on whether labour brokers will be there or not.
Moving forward, part of the things which are in the Freedom Charter in terms of the ANC's purpose of ensuring that the rights of workers are protected is the notion of equal work and equal pay. Historically, this is due to the fact that a lot of companies have gone on without being monitored, using tests which ultimately discriminate against workers on the basis of their race, sex or disabilities, and so forth.
They have gone on unnoticed and have continued to perpetrate the racial apartheid laws because - which is something we have consistently raised within the portfolio committee - it is the role of labour inspectors to do so. Minister, we have to ensure that we invest a lot of money in this issue in order to ensure that the notion of equal pay is put into place.
One of the things which the DA and some other so-called intellectuals, or whatever, have wanted to perpetrate through the so-called Jimmy Manyi saga ... [Interjections.] I don't know what your relationship with Jimmy Manyi is. I thought it is, actually, hon Ollis, beyond politics. You are so infatuated with him that all the problems and everything else that have to do with the problems in labour have to do with Jimmy Manyi. [Interjections.]
However, one of the things which we missed with regard to the new Labour Relations Amendment Bill has been the question of permanent employees. I mentioned earlier on, for instance, that the CEO of Pick n Pay earned more than R60 million, while workers at Pick n Pay have been in temporary employment for more than 20 years.
What must we say to those workers? We must respect the fact that Pick n Pay has a right to decide how much it pays its CEO, whereas the workers of Pick n Pay, who are the ones who actually create the wealth, who are the ones who actually lead to a situation wherein Pick n Pay's profit soars, who are the ones who ensured that the democracy we are enjoying has given him and the board of directors that right to pay him that R60 million ... We must shut our eyes and say that it is in the name of profit maximisation. It is the capitalist system; we must accept it. There is no future for any other economic system.
Is that what we should be explaining to our workers? [Interjections.] That is why it is important to ensure that through these labour laws, the notion of permanent jobs versus temporary jobs helps workers realise their democracy and their freedom.
Finally, we have to invest, and we are happy that a lot of resources have been invested in the Department of Labour in order to make sure that after amendments there is going to be a whole range of discussions and engagements throughout this term of office. I like the fact that, when you came here, you said that the elections are over and that there will be no politicking.
Since the elections are over, we hope that you will now be able to tap into your very bankrupt intellectual energy, so that we will be able to ensure that we help not only those who are seeking to profit from the exploitation of workers, but also the workers themselves.
There can be no one who comes out and says that apartheid has come to an end whereas they want to consistently defend the laws which were the veins of that apartheid system. [Interjections.] That is what we are saying with this new labour legislation and we hope that you will join in; not in representation of one out of four, but in representation of all South Africans - black, white, Indian, coloured, and everybody. Thank you very much, Chair. [Applause.]