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The SA Chamber of Commerce and Industry says it's deeply concerned by the reported 0.6% contraction in the Gross Domestic Product in the first quarter of this year in large part due to the protracted strike in the Platinum sector.
Sacci's Pietman Roos, says the severity of the economic impact of the strike questions whether South Africa’s labour relations framework is serving the needs of workers, business owners and the country’s development goals.
He says South Africa urgently requires open debate on ending and preventing similar debilitating strikes.
"We think that the severity of the economic impact of the strike would strongly suggest that we need to re-look our labour relations framework and see whether it's serving the needs of workers and business owners, in fact the country's development goals. This GDP news is very worrying since it actually indicates that South Africa's economy is almost a percent smaller than a quarter ago." says Roos.
