Durban - KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Economic Development Siboniso Duma on Tuesday told labour experts, senior government officials and delegates attending the BRICS Employment Working Group that some workers in the government and private sector are drowning in debt.
Speaking in Durban during the first day of the meeting of the working group taking place ahead of Thursday’s BRICS Ministers of Labour and Employment Conference, Duma called for the adoption of a clear resolution spelling out a programme of action to save workers who are drowning in debt.
He said negative economic conditions had imposed hardships on millions of people, especially the working class in the province.
Duma told delegates, including the International Labour Organization and International Social Security Association, that he was confident that a long-lasting solution would be championed through BRICS in the interest of the working force.
“The provincial government wants to work with organised labour to seriously address the issue of employees who are in debt.
“Although I don’t have the latest statistics, I am aware that many workers in different spheres of government and in the private sector are drowning in debt. Garnishee orders in the public service leave them with no salaries each month,” Duma said.
He said a growing number of forecasts revealed that food prices were set to continue to rise sharply in coming months.
“This complicates an already unbearable situation of poverty and squalor wherein our province recorded the estimated number of people that are food insecure to be more than 3.5 million – and more than 580 000 households.”
Duma said the provincial government was also focusing on reskilling as one of the interventions.
He told delegates that he had tasked his office to plan a meeting with key stakeholders to discuss the impact of economic recovery plans and to look at how best they can work together to sharpen the skills of the workers who had been retrenched.
“We have an enduring partnership with key industry role-players such as Cosatu, the KZN Growth Coalition, the KZN Economic Council and KZN Human Resources Development Council, which is composed of representatives of academic institutions.
“We want to focus on a clear massive skill revolution, aimed at reskilling workers who have lost their jobs in both informal and formal economies.
“We want them to be re-absorbed in other sectors or in the new businesses,” Duma said.