SOME SPECIFIC DEADLINES

The Growth and Development Summit agreements cover the immediate term, the medium-term and the long term. Some of the more immediate deadlines relate to:

Co-operatives

A task team at Nedlac is already discussing co-operatives strategy. It was agreed that the task team should work towards presenting a final report in November 2003. Government committed to tabling legislation in Parliament this year governing the registration of co-operatives, as well as organising and funding a study tour to examine best practice in co-operatives. Nedlac will convene a national cooperatives conference in 2004 to review the progress in building a strong co-operatives movement in South Africa.

Local Procurement

The constituencies committed to supporting a strong campaign aimed at raising consumer awareness on local content over Christmas 2003. They further committed themselves to intensify their support for the Proudly South African campaign and its objectives.

Jobs impact and monitoring

The constituencies agreed to engage with each other over a six-month period following the GDS to develop a set of practical measures to monitor total employment.

Learnerships

Business and the government have agreed to register at least 72 000 unemployed learners in learnerships by May 2004. Constituencies have agreed to work with the Department of Labour on a joint marketing campaign to promote learnerships.

Pension and provident funds

Nedlac will host a conference of the trustees of pension and provident funds before the end of 2004 to discuss the various challenges facing the funds, including the need for capacity building of employee representatives on the Boards of Trustees. The constituencies have also committed to engage on the potential for establishing national pension and provident funds within sectors of the economy. This will be considered within the broader context of pension reform to ensure the comprehensiveness of the changes.

The Agreement was signed by the representatives of the following organisations:
Government
Labour: Fedusa; Cosatu and Nactu
Business: Nafcoc and the Black Business Council; Business South Africa
Community: South African Youth Council; South African National Civics Organisation; Disabled People of South Africa; National Women's Coalition; National Co-operativesAssociation of South Africa; Financial Sector Coalition.

Nedlac will host a conference of the trustees of pension and provident fundsbefore the end of 2004 to discuss the various challenges facing the funds.