MESSAGE FROM THE OVERALL BUSINESS CONVENOR - RAYMOND PARSONS

After 1997 proved to be a rather difficult and frustrating year for Nedlac participants, 1998 commenced on a more positive note, with the parties evincing a "maturer" approach based on a better understanding of what is achievable. All participants were committed to making Nedlac more streamlined and efficient with a bigger role for the overall convenors in facilitating the processes. From the business perspective, despite frequent criticism that Nedlac has failed to deliver, despite disappointment with the compromise nature of agreements brokered, there is a basic recognition of the essential role it plays in the broader social and economic transformation of South Africa.

Although Nedlac's effectiveness cannot be measured by a simple tally of specific agreements, a review of 1998/9 does highlight several important achievements: including Codes of Good Practice on Picketing, Retrenchment and Sexual Harassment; Competition Policy; Employment Equity Legislation; Skills Development Legislation; preparation for the jobs summit and the EU trade negotiations.

Of course, no institution is perfect and a major disappointment for business is that Nedlac has not yet been able to develop a shared economic vision. This has exacerbated underlying ideological divisions about economic policy and makes it very difficult to have an agreed strategy for growth and employment. We must seek to narrow these gaps in the years ahead, as we were able to do with the jobs summit.

In taking stock of the year under review, there is a need to look ahead at the future role of Nedlac. The past five years have been spent in putting various broad frameworks in place. Now the driving imperative for the government will be on implementation and Nedlac will have to see if it can play a meaningful role in this process.

Business remains supportive of institutionalized social dialogue such as through Nedlac. Social dialogue requires time and effort but the challenge will be to promote a process that dovetails more with the need to move ahead with implementation as opposed to spending time on protracted negotiations. It is not essential that Nedlac reaches agreement on every issue - what is often needed is "sufficient consensus" to offer coherent policy advice to the government of the day.