OTHER ISSUES

From time to time, issues arise which, because of their sensitivity or because they cutacross the work of more than one chamber, need to be addressed through a special process.One such issue addressed this year, which had a bearing on the work of at least twochambers, was the restructuring of state assets.

Restructuring of state assets

The process for addressing the issue of the restructuring of state assets, orprivatisation, has not been an easy one, with the matter becoming very controversialtoward the end of 1995. The process in Nedlac began with a briefing by the Minister ofPublic Enterprises on government's proposals on the reorganisation of state assets inOctober 1995. It had been agreed that a special Nedlac task force would be established toconsider government's proposals. Labour made its participation in the task forceconditional on certain issues first being addressed by government, foremost of which wasthe need for government to give a firm and practical undertaking that unilateralrestructuring would not take place or proceed ahead of agreement by key stakeholders onthe processes to be followed.

A series of bilaterals between government and labour were facilitated by the Nedlacsecretariat and culminated with the tabling by labour of proposals for a nationalframework agreement at the Nedlac Executive Council in November 1995. These proposals wereto be considered in further bilaterals, but became the subject of negotiations betweengovernment and labour outside of Nedlac, after government had made certain announcementson proposals for the restructuring of state assets in December 1995. These negotiationsculminated in the signing of a national framework agreement in February 1996. Thisagreement has been tabled in Nedlac. The Nedlac Management Committee is scheduled to holdfurther discussions on this area.

EXTERNAL RELATIONS

Throughout the year, Nedlac has had ongoing communication and consultation with otherrelated bodies, the media and the public. One of the most important areas to receiveattention in this regard has been the relationship between Nedlac and Parliament.

Nedlac's relationship with Parliament

The Nedlac Act states that all labour legislation and all significant legislationaffecting social and economic policy is to be considered before being tabled inParliament. A key question addressed in the course of the past year has been what theappropriate ongoing relationship between Nedlac and Parliament should be. Both theExecutive Council and Management Committee held several discussions on this issue, seekingto develop ideas on a complementary relationship between the Nedlac process and Parliamentso as to achieve legislation that promotes effective social consensus.

The outcome of these discussions is that the relationship between Nedlac and Parliamentshould be allowed to develop on a case-by-case basis. As issues arise (for example, theurban and rural development strategies, the green paper on employment standards, etcetera), meetings should be held between Nedlac and the relevant portfolio committee at anearly stage to define the best process for taking consideration of the issue forward.These interactions should be coordinated at Management Committee level. It was also agreedthat ongoing communication between Nedlac and the parliamentary portfolio committeesshould be maintained and further developed. The approach outlined above will be reviewedfrom time to time.

To date, meetings have been held with the portfolio committee on the RDP on the urbanand rural development strategies, and with the portfolio committee on labour regarding thegreen paper on employment standards. Ongoing interaction has also been established withthe portfolio committee on finance.

Briefings, seminar sessions and delegations received by Nedlac

Throughout the year Nedlac has held various workshops, seminars and briefing sessions.These have included briefings by the Minister and deputy Minister of Finance on theBudget, by the Katz Commission, by the Minister of Transport on the Maputo DevelopmentCorridor, a discussion session with the World Bank on its latest "Global EconomicPerspectives" report, and a workshop on collective bargaining. Business, labour,government and community also participated in discussions with leading representatives ofvarious local and foreign institutions such as the secretary-general of the World TradeOrganisation (WTO), Renato Ruggeiro, and the United Nations Conference on Trade andDevelopment (Unctad) secretary-general, Rubens Ricupero.

Nedlac has also received numerous foreign delegations, including a delegation led byNorwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Bruntland and a European Parliament delegation led bythe president of the Parliament.