LETTER: Tito Mboweni did not destroy jobs

Andrew Kenny’s letter on Tito Mboweni (FM, October 31-November 6) reopens old debates about labour laws and their perceived negative effects on unemployment and the economy.

Sadly, Kenny presents no evidence to support his assertions that Mboweni’s reforms destroyed jobs.

He need not look far to find some evidence to the contrary.

In Better Choices: Ensuring South Africa’s Future, a book compiled by the Brenthurst Foundation in 2022, there are references to research by distinguished labour lawyers and economists that show the South African labour market to be neither over- nor underregulated relative to global averages.

Mboweni was passionate about “decent work” and the reforms he pursued contributed immensely to the welfare of millions in the labour market.

Before his departure to the Reserve Bank, he led preparations for the presidential jobs summit held in October 1998.

Similarly, he also laid the foundation for the “skills revolution” through the Skills Development Act (1998) and the Skills Development Levies Act (1999).

The “skills revolution” was an important response to globalisation and the threat posed to workers in occupations and sectors affected by integration into the global economy.

As Mboweni reminded us in his budget vote speech in 1997: “Unemployment does not arise from the nature of the labour market alone, but from the overall structure of the economy and its performance.”

Les Kettledas and Muzi Maziya
Pretoria North

Kettledas is a former deputy director-general at the department of labour. Maziya was the head of research, policy and planning from 2002 to 2004.

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