Pretoria - The people of Gauteng, Tshwane and Soshanguve have been the biggest beneficiaries of the phenomenal jobs growth registered, says President Jacob Zuma.
President Zuma was speaking in Soshanguve, where he delivered his annual address to the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) sitting, on Friday.
“Employment has grown at an unprecedented rate of 308 000 new jobs in the quarter ending in September 2013.
“These figures reflect the highest rate of new jobs created in over 22 quarters and further lifts the overall figures of people in employment in South Africa to over 14 million. The people of Gauteng, Tshwane and Soshanguve have been the biggest beneficiaries of the phenomenal jobs growth registered,” he said.
Zuma said while the nation is celebrating the achievements since the advent of democracy, he believes the levels of unemployment, poverty and inequality remain unacceptably high.
“The progress we are making in jobs growth came as a product of massive public sector investment in social and economic infrastructure that reached new heights with over 840 billion rand spent since 2009.
“With Gautrain, Rapid Bus Transport, road network and telecommunications infrastructure we did not only create thousands of jobs, but enabled the people of this region to enjoy a better quality of life,” he said.
According to the President, the Tshwane region also has the second highest share of the R 440 million provided by the Small Enterprise Finance Agency, since its establishment in April 2012.
The NCOP is sitting in Tshwane during a busy construction period as several projects are being rolled out such as the Pretoria Rail Ring, Hammanskraal Rail Service, Moloto Rail Corridor and also the Tshwane Bus Rapid Transport system as part of the national infrastructure roll out plan.
Zuma said there may be a lot of inconvenience currently to the residents of Tshwane and surroundings, but in the end, the results will make life much better and much easier, adding that life in South Africa is indeed improving each day, in many ways.
“There is still a lot of work to be done and we should do it together as South Africans from various walks of life,” he said. The theme of the sitting is "Socio-economic development through oversight and public participation".
The event marks a culmination of a series of public participation engagements of the NCOP in Gauteng as part of its "Taking Parliament to the People” programme. - SAnews.gov.za
