Deputy Minister Phumzile Mgcina: Employment and Labour Dept Budget Vote 2024/25

Department of Employment and Labour Budget Vote 31 speech, Deputy Minister Phumzile Mgcina  

Honourable Speaker, 
Ministers and Deputy Ministers present,
Members of the House,
The Director-General and Senior Managers of the Department of Employment and Labour, and its entities,
Ladies and gentlemen

It is my honor and pleasure to be afforded an opportunity to add on what the Minister of Employment and Labour presented to this House. I have joined a moving train and hope to make a contribution in improving the working and living conditions of the workers of our country and also improve relations between employers and their employees.

The Minister, made reference to the “Unemployment in the context of our country as structural, deep-seated systemic and stubborn” and referred to Stats SA Quarter 4 4 figures that I don’t have to repeat and the partnerships that we are forging in our quest to reducing these high unemployment levels. 

The Department has a number of entities that are established in terms of various laws and work collaboratively to contribute to employment entry, employment retention, employment safety, employment security, employment cushioning.

It is within this context that we have the Public Employment Services that we established to assist work seekers and companies to adjust to changing labour market trends through the following interventions: 
- Registration of work seekers and work opportunities and facilitating placement after performing matching and counseling 
services. This work is done through the 126 Labour Centres, the youth centres, the 440 visiting points that we access through our 
mobile units and cars and our online systems.
- Retension of employment through Productivity promotion and Turn Around Solutions to ailing companies through our  Productivity South Africa to improve work place relations and change.
- Rolling out special employment programs for persons with disabilities in our quest not to leave anyone behind. We do this 
through the 13 Supported Employment Enterprises that we have in 08 of the Nine Provinces. We are currently exploring the 
establishment of one more in Mpumalanga. These SEEs employ youth, men and women of different races with various disabilities 
and produce very good quality furniture, linen and steel products. We also subsidize 09 National organisations that promote the 
employment of people with disabilities.
- We provide funding through the Unemployment Insurance Fund, Labour Activation Program, to support scheme that places people in employment.
- We have established special Rehabilitation and re-integration programs for people injured at work to continues with their lively 
hood under the Compensation Fund.
- We assist companies in distress through the UIF/CCMA and Productivity SA to minimize levels of retrenchments.
- We set minimum standards and basic condition of employment through the Ministerial determinations to protect workers involved in public and private employment programs.
- We are active players in the growth of this country through massive investments that we make on the UIF and Compensation 
Fund reserves to employment creation projects overseen by the Public Investment Cooperation.
- We are working with the Presidency in the Presidential Youth Employment Initiative, to coordinate public employment programs 
and to search for innovative solutions that can bring about tangible changes in this area. And finally
- We are working on policies such as the National Labour Migration, the National Employment Policy, Reviewing our laws to 
accommodate the Platform Workers, Small Business and 4 IR.

Honorable members, all these interventions require all of us and DEL will not succeed without the support of the labour, community and employers.

I thank you