Covid-19 used as a scapegoat for failure of Premier Makhura’s office to ensure youth access to work opportunities

6 May 2021

While our youth are in desperate need for jobs, The Office of Premier David Makhura has once again failed to meet its quarterly target of economically excluded youth accessing work opportunity placements through the Tshepo 1 Million Programme.

This information was revealed in the third quarterly report of the Office of the Premier for the 2020/21 financial year. The set target of 23 430 was not met, with only 12 927 youth reached.

A further 4 250 economically excluded youth accessing expanded public works opportunity placements through the Tshepo 1 Million Programme concerning installation, repairs and maintenance work were also supposed to be place this quarter. This target was also not met which is extremely concerning considering the economic impact from Covid-19 and the livelihoods of unemployed youth in the province.

According to the report, these targets were not met because of the Covid-10 lockdown restrictions. This is a poor excuse, considering the country is now on Level 1 Lockdown and such concerned restrictions do not prevent youth from accessing the opportunities in these programmes.

It is precisely because we are living during the time of a pandemic, that these job creation programmes, put forward by government, become even more important.

Furthermore, the Premier’s Office also failed to reach its target of having 16 500 learners in the last two years of high school access self-paced, digital learning, on-the-job-relevant skills through the Tshepo 1 Million Programme.

No learners were able to access this tool, where Covid-19 was blamed due to training sessions needing to be held indoors with no possible social distancing. This is not a valid excuse, considering that in most cases, learners are divided into smaller groups to abide by social distancing protocols.

At a time when job opportunities are scarce and government has the necessary vehicle to ensure that our youth are equipped with vital skills that will enable them to become entrepreneurs or find long-term employment, the Covid-19 pandemic is used as a scapegoat.

Even before the pandemic, this office had not always met its quarterly targets set when it comes to creating job opportunities for the youth.

Failure by the Premier’s Office to lead by example in creating employment opportunities for the youth shows that he cares little about the state of unemployment in this province.

The DA will be engaging with Premier Makhura to find out what measures will be put in place to ensure that these targets are met. The only way in which our economy will grow is if government starts creating the correct environment for the private sector to invest in the economy.

Issued by Solly Msimanga, Official Leader of the Opposition-Gauteng, 6 May 2021