DA’s jobs plan will put a job in every home in the Free State

18 March 2019

Dumelang Democrats,

South Africa is facing an unprecedented joblessness crisis. Our province in particular has been hamstrung by the ANC’s failure in government.

Today, we have gathered unemployed South Africans from across the province to share the Democratic Alliance’s (DA) plan to boost job creation in the Free State. Our province has one of the highest unemployment rates in the country with an expanded unemployment rate of 39.3%, which is above the National Average.

Young people, and the elderly alike, are among the groups who are the hardest hit by crippling unemployment. The unemployment crisis, which the ANC has allowed to run free, is not just numbers on a page. Unemployment has a face. The faces of unemployment are our daughters, sons, cousins and friends, who struggle to find work because the ANC has killed the economy. There is no dignity in being an unemployed graduate and having to depend on the old age grant of a grandmother or grandfather.

Unemployment mixed with the rising costs of electricity and fuel has left many people in our country in despair. In addition to this, the recent rolling power failures at Eskom is further killing prospects job creation.

Many of you in this room do not know the dignity of having a job and providing for your families. The DA will ensure that your dignity is restored by putting a job in every home in the Free State.

Where we govern in the Western Cape, we have the lowest expanded unemployment rate in South Africa at 23.1%. The Western Cape’s closest competitor, Gauteng is 10.5% points behind at 33.6%. This demonstrates the DA government’s unwavering commitment to creating jobs and growing our economy in the interest of all South Africans.

Over the past 10 years there were more than 500 000 jobs, that is half a million jobs, created in the DA-run Western Cape. To put this in context, this is almost the same amount as the number of people unemployed in the Free State. So indeed, it is possible for the DA to put a job in every home.

In Gauteng, approximately 90% of the jobs created in the last year took place in areas governed by the DA.

If the DA can do this in the Western Cape and Gauteng, then we can certainly do the same for the Free State.

If the failing ANC could not create jobs for our people over the past 10 years, how can we trust them to create jobs for them in the next five?

The Free State and indeed our country cannot afford to continue on this growthless path, we need a party that is serious about growing the economy and creating jobs for millions of young South Africans who are trapped in a vicious cycle of poverty due to the ANC’s rampant corruption.

A DA government will put a job in every home in the Free State by ensuring the following:

Introduce a Voluntary National Civilian Service year: This will be offered to every matriculant who doesn’t qualify for tertiary education and give them an opportunity to provide a service to the country, or his or her community, in return for a stipend and valuable work experience.

The DA has a six-point plan to develop more successful small businesses: This is a comprehensive plan, and includes, for example, incentives for people to invest in small businesses, providing more funding to small businesses and to reduce the number of regulations that might make it difficult to start a small business. The plan also includes more guidance and support to small businesses.

DA’s Jobs Act: The DA’s jobs act will attract more investment into South Africa in order to realize investment for jobs, and realizing a job in every home.

Land Reform: The DA has the highest success rate in the country when it comes to land reform, and that is due to the fact that the DA provides superior support and access to markets to emerging farmers.

Eradication of employment corruption by:

Increasing the transparency of the recruitment process by:

ensuring high-profile public sector jobs are properly advertised through a variety of media; and

making a hotline available to report instances of employment corruption.

Introduce legislation to protect job-seekers, particularly women, who are vulnerable to coerced transactional sex requests. The legislation should:

codify sexual exploitation as a distinct form of corruption;

protect individuals who report incidences from self-incrimination, therefore changing the charge from bilateral to unilateral; and

increase awareness of rights that job-seekers and employees have.

Require that all candidates applying for employment in the public service complete a public service entrance exam.

A vote for the DA on 8 May is a vote for a job.

The DA is committed to building One South Africa for All – where every citizen knows the dignity of having job.

Issued by Patricia Kopane, DA Free State Premier Candidate, 18 March 2019