President satisfied with progress in implementation of Jobs Summit

The Presidential Working Committee on the Jobs Summit, composed of leaders of government, labor, business, and the community constituency, meets on the first Monday of every month.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has commended the government's social partners for the good progress being made in the implementation of the commitments made at the Presidential Jobs Summit held in October 2018.

"The President has expressed satisfaction with the progress made to date saying that the Presidential Working Committee is beginning to yield significant results. He has further commended the determination and commitment of all social partners to accelerate the implementation of the identified reforms," said the Presidency.

The President's remarks followed the meeting of the Presidential Working Committee on Monday.

The Presidential Working Committee on the Jobs Summit, composed of leaders of government, labor, business, and the community constituency, meets on the first Monday of every month. It was established to track progress and expedite implementation of the commitments made to create jobs and stem job losses in various sectors.

"The Presidential Working Committee considered recent progress on measures to reduce the cost and improve the ease of doing business.

"This includes the publication by ICASA last week of the Information Memorandum on the release of the spectrum. It further received updates on the e-visa portal to be launched as a pilot in Kenya later this month. The portal will make the application of both tourists and work visas easier and cheaper.

"The President has also welcomed the pilot of an online company registration system that enables users to register a company and apply for and obtain a tax number, VAT number, B-B-BBEE certificate, unemployment insurance, and the skills development levy, among others, in one place.

"Through this online portal, the government aims to significantly reduce the time it takes to set up a company," said the Presidency.

The Presidential Working Committee also received presentations on removing the regulatory inhibitors in the pharmaceutical industry, the review of the classification of critical skills, and expanding short-term training opportunities for young people in high growth sectors such as business processing services.

The committee also considered areas of concern to social partners, such as the operation of the Temporary Employer/Employee Relief Scheme, which is one of the mechanisms to respond to possible retrenchments.

The committee agreed to attend to these problems as a matter of priority.

(With Inputs from South African Government Press Release)