ANC dismisses labour law concerns

The organisation’s economic policy head, Max Sisulu, yesterday made light of divisions between the ruling party and its left-wing allies, saying there was ‘broad consensus’ on the need to boost economic growth. ‘We have identified a couple of areas where there is a need for discussion and debate, but in other areas there is broad consensus. We have a shared vision of growth where the major challenge is unemployment and poverty,’ Sisulu said. Business Day says Sisulu’s remarks suggested the ANC felt there was no reason to reform existing labour policies. This, it notes, is despite these having been identified by the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative of SA as constraining growth. Government has said it would examine the policies because of frequent complaints from local and foreign business communities. ’SA doesn’t have a rigid labour market, it is flexible. We would like to have companies hire rather than fire, but our view is the market is not rigid,’ he said. Full Business Day report