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According to the 1996 census figures released in 1998, about 22 per cent of South Africa’s economically active population are unemployed. The majority of the unemployed are black men and women under the age of 35 years. The Presidential Jobs Summit was held on 30 October 1998. The deliberations of the summit were captured in a 95-page document which detailed new job-creation programs. The Declaration of the Presidential Jobs Summit is a collective commitment by the Government, labor and business in a number of areas to address the high levels of unemployment. The summit saw a proposal to revive three of South Africa’s most economically depressed areas, namely St Lucia, the Wild Coast and Algoa Bay. The Wild Coast-Emonti project proposes, among other things, developing tourism, forestry, agriculture and the Mkambati Game Reserve. The Greater St Lucia area in KwaZulu-Natal was earmarked for developing 5 500 additional tourist beds, focusing tourism on the State-owned wetland park, and a private investment of R680 million. The new developments will create some 2 000 potential jobs. The Greater Algoa project will focus on the automobile and components industry, a greenfields metals processing complex, tourism around the Addo Elephant Park, and agricultural development. All three projects will promote infrastructural development and SMEs and similar projects will be replicated in the rest of the provinces. Other initiatives include investment in tourism, a Buy South African campaign, tariff adjustments, the promotion of SMEs and the adjustment of the country’s macroeconomic policy. Also announced at the summit was a R2,5-billion housing project, funded jointly by the Government and business, which will create employment and address the backlog in affordable housing. (See Chapter 16: Housing.) The summit also resolved that 5 per cent of all public procurement would be given to businesses owned or controlled by disabled people. Private companies with a workforce of which at least 5 per cent are disabled would also qualify. Government infrastructural and special employment programs enable quick job creation, particularly for the most vulnerable groups in the labor market. The package of programs already on offer will be dramatically expanded over the next few years, with greater attention paid to the finance stream, improved coordination of activities, sustainability, training and the contribution to local economic activity. It is estimated that about R5 billion is currently allocated from the Budget to intensive-intensive infrastructure programs such as Working for Water, the LandCare Campaign, Rural Water Supply, the CBPW Programs, Consolidated Municipal Infrastructure Program (CMIP), housing and select welfare programs. Housing (R3,2 billion) and CMIP (about R700 million) constitute the bulk of this funding. A more dynamic and integrated approach to implementation includes a commitment to expanding programs that have investment promotion or ‘natural resource– releasing’ impact; maximizing synergies between infrastructure and services; and promoting intensive-intensive methods in construction. Jointly, government, business and labor have pledged resources towards the financing of short and medium- to long-term job creating activities. A Cabinet Employment Cluster Committee will be established to ensure the effective implementation of Jobs Summit commitments.
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Last Revised: Monday, November 17, 2008 |