South African government, labor unions agree to tackle challenges together

The South African government and the country’s major organized labor unions agreed to work much more closely to address the immediate challenges that confront the South African economy, according to the Presidency.

President Cyril Ramaphosa, government ministers and trade unions held a virtual meeting Tuesday to address the challenges. The government and trade unions reached an agreement to work together to grow the economy, create jobs, and eliminate poverty and inequality, the Presidency said Tuesday.

“Given the scale of the challenge, we require support from all social partners to urgently accelerate implementation of the government’s plans and drive additional interventions,” the Presidency said in a statement.

“While there is encouraging progress, the energy shortfall remains the single biggest constraint on economic growth,” the statement said. “We need to accelerate and expand our efforts even further, not only to overcome the immediate crisis but to fundamentally reform our energy sector and ensure that we never face such a shortfall again.”

Ramaphosa and labor leaders agreed that further in-depth engagement is needed to fully address the issues raised, and a follow-up in-person meeting will soon be convened, according to the Presidency.