Cape Town - Government has created thousands of jobs since the New Growth Path (NGP) was
adopted by Cabinet in October last year, figures released on Tuesday by the Minister of Economic Development Ebrahim Patel reveal.
In response to a parliamentary question on the progress of the NGP from a member of the ruling party and another from a member of the opposition, Patel outlined several interventions that had already yielded thousands of jobs, including:
* Almost 60 000 jobs created by the Department of Trade and Industry's support and incentive programmes in the last financial year.
* The support of over 100 000 smallholder farmers by the national and provincial agricultural departments.
* Environmental employment schemes, such as the Department of Water Affairs' Working for Water and the Working for Land programme, which would provide over 30 000 full-time job equivalents this year, doubling to 60 000 next year.
* A rural youth employment programme, which has created 7 500 jobs.
Patel said the government planned to increase the number of work opportunities in the Community Works Programme to one million by 2014, of which up to 90% could be earmarked for young people.
The programme provides longer-term employment to young people than is the case in the traditional Expanded Public Works Programme, he said.
He said government was rolling out several other initiatives to create more jobs.
These were highlighted at the recent Cabinet lekgotla, where 12 action plans were adopted to ensure that government prioritises measures to expand public and private sector investment.
The action plans include measures in agriculture and agro-processing, mining industry, manufacturing and the green economy.
One such measure is the announcement of a number of large agro-processing projects such as a seed-crushing plant in Mpumalanga, which would create up to 4 000 jobs, and a chicken farming project in the Free State, which would employ about 800 people.
Also included is the government's Comprehensive Rural Development Programme, which at present is being implemented at 65 sites.
In the mining sector, Cabinet had adopted the beneficiation strategy in June; had approved the setting up of the state-owned mining company and had identified options for bringing down iron and steel prices. A pre-feasibility study for the setting up of a new steel mill had also been completed.
Government had also launched a major effort to improve African regional integration, with the launch of the negotiations in June for a Free Trade Area involving 26 countries with 600 million people, stretching from Cape Town to Cairo.
Patel said the size of the total labour force - the total number of employed and unemployed persons - grew significantly in the first two quarters of this year, by about 200 000 persons each quarter, after dropping in every quarter of last year.
However, he said the pace of job growth has slowed down in the recent quarter and jobs were lost in manufacturing, mining and agriculture in the second quarter, compared with the first three months of the year.
