Paramedics attend to an injured DA supporter in Joburg on Tuesday. A march by the main opposition party on the headquarters of union federation Cosatu descended into chaos, with police firing tear gas to disperse crowds of rock-throwing protesters. Picture: Reuters Paramedics attend to an injured DA supporter in Joburg on Tuesday. A march by the main opposition party on the headquarters of union federation Cosatu descended into chaos, with police firing tear gas to disperse crowds of rock-throwing protesters. Picture: Reuters
That South Africa is a noisy nation is a trait of which we should be proud. As Tuesday’s march by the DA on Cosatu headquarters unfolded, discussion focused on the numbers on each side, who threw the first stone and the scores of people who were injured. With the professional football season coming to an end, the entertainment value of “the blues” and “the reds” at each others’ throats cannot be underestimated.
From the point of view of the DA, this marks the beginning of an uprising against “the real centre of power” as, in its opinion, the government has ceded decision-making to Cosatu.
It cannot be that the DA did not expect a mass and angry response to the march from Cosatu and its allies. This is not merely because of the antagonism between these two organisations which, in broad terms, stand at the extreme ends of race and class. It is also because the issue at hand – unemployment and the youth wage subsidy – is urgent and emotive. In the end, and because of the chaos that it certainly should have expected, the DA got the publicity it wanted – and perhaps a few votes.
The alignment of forces in the debate about a youth wage subsidy is indeed a strange one. On the one hand, the government has put forward the proposal and, after some eight years of internal debate, resources have been allocated for its implementation.
The DA claims it has started implementing the scheme. The National Planning Commission (NPC) has similarly called for “a tax subsidy to employers to reduce the initial cost of hiring young labour market entrants”. The ANC Youth League rejects the proposal. The National Youth Development Agency, staffed mainly by youth leaguers, has expressed support for the wage subsidy, on condition that there is effective monitoring of the system.
Debate around this issue has been raging for many months at the National Economic, Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) involving the government, business, workers and civil society. Indications are that we should not hold our breath, as a resolution will not come soon.
This is the actual tragedy. For, while the government may try to devise long-term strategies and plans, these will take years to have an effect on employment. The global economic crisis is not helping either. What is needed is a raft of urgent interventions that will facilitate the school-to-work transition, which is the bane of our society’s economic and social wellbeing.
The statistics on youth marginalisation have been repeated over and over again: 2009 figures show that roughly half of our unemployed are aged 18-24, and there are even university graduates among their number.
To attack this problem the NPC – in addition to the “young labour tax subsidy” – calls for driver training for school leavers, subsidies to the placement sector to prepare and place matric graduates, extending the Expanded Public Works Programme and expanding learnerships.
Coming back to the issue of the youth wage subsidy, from where does Cosatu’s “callousness” against the DA march originate?
Naturally, a trade union movement has the responsibility to defend the interests of its members. It should be expected to protest against measures it sees as having the potential to create a two-tier labour market which ultimately would lower labour standards across the board. But why not accept this as a temporary intervention to absorb as many young people as possible into economic activity, expand the numbers of workers and potential union members, and from this beach-head press for improved standards? The answer to these questions lies not only with Cosatu and other opponents of the youth wage subsidy. It should also come from employers and society at large.
Youth wage subsidies all over the world have been shown to facilitate young people’s entry into the labour market. But only if they are implemented in a manner that deals with the many negative consequences that they can otherwise spawn. These include businesses that employ people who would have been employed anyway, older workers being cast off for subsidised younger workers, companies regularly absorbing each new crop of subsidised workers while dumping the previous group when their subsidy period comes to an end, and various forms of corruption.
To the extent that these issues are addressed, generic slogans about a two-tier labour market system and poverty wages will not pass muster in the court of public opinion.
The hope, though, is that what one business commentator called “a silly” decision on the part of the DA to march on Cosatu HQ will not harden attitudes and scuttle the discussions under way.
And, sooner rather than later, the government will have to weigh the pros and cons and take a decision.
l Joel Netshitenzhe is the executive director of the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection