The DA will create jobs and opportunities for all in Tshwane
11 July 2016
In 1994, we gave birth to a new democracy with a promise of a better life for the people of South Africa. A life with "work, bread, water and salt for all."
Over 20 years later, this City, and South Africa at large, has not lived up to this promise. A total of 8.9 million of our people are without jobs, 517,000 of them living in the Capital alone.
The initial progress made after 1994 has been replaced by a period of slow economic growth and growing unemployment - 1 in 3 South Africans are without the opportunity to provide for their families.
The ANC has failed South Africa. Corruption, patronage and nepotism have replaced fairness and opportunity with only those connected to the ANC able to get ahead in life.
In the City of Tshwane the streets are filled with those who do not have jobs or who have given up looking.
Every day on the campaign trail I hear from fathers and mothers who are unable to feed their children.
And from young people who struggle to see hope in the future.
Many of these people believe that our democracy has failed them. It is not our democracy that has failed, but the ANC that has been captured by self-interest and corruption, preventing us from expanding opportunities for our people and moving forward.
We cannot move forward when investors are scared away by policy uncertainty.
We cannot move forward when billions are lost to corruption instead of spent on projects to empower young people with opportunities.
We cannot move forward when programs such as the EPWP are used to buy support for the ANC instead of as a platform to develop skills and make people more employable.
The only way that our country and this City will move forward again is if we vote out the ANC and elect a DA government with a solid plan to create jobs and expand opportunities for all.
The DA's Manifesto for Change is our plan to turn the City of Tshwane around and turn it into a hub of opportunity.
The DA in Tshwane would:
1. Grow a culture of entrepreneurship by introducing Job Zones in Ekandustria, Babelegi and Garankuwa, offering developers’ discounts on development contributions and tariffs in return for creating jobs.
2. Create Job Centres, located across the city and operated in partnership with NGOs, to create a contact point between employers and informal jobseekers. Promoting social capital in this way will enable thousands of unemployed residents to earn a living.
3. Broadly empower businesses, through Red Tape Reduction Units to create a regulatory business environment that promotes growth, innovation and facilitates job-creating investment.
4. Ensure that EPWP beneficiaries are selected by a fair process and not by ward councillors and their cronies who require applicants to be card carrying members of the ANC.
The ANC would like you to believe that the economic problems we face in South Africa are external in nature. They blame the global economy for unemployment at home.
But the truth is that with the political will to make a difference, and proper plan to do so, we can turn the tide against unemployment and kick-start our economy.
The DA has shown that this can be done. It's is no coincidence that expanded unemployment in the DA-run Western Cape is the lowest of all of the provinces.
And that the DA-run City of Cape has the lowest expanded unemployment rate of all the metros, 14.6% below that national average, while DA-run Midvaal has the lowest unemployment in Gauteng.
Our record shows that where the DA governs, we are making progress and creating opportunities. This is the change I would like to see come to Tshwane.
On August 3 the people of this City can vote for change and a future filled with more opportunity.
Change that will stop corruption, deliver better services and create jobs.
A vote for the DA is a vote for a future that will see this City get back to work.
Issued by Motheo Mtimkulu, Media Manager Tshwane Mayoral Campaign, 11 July 2016
