'2 million jobs in five years' - Maimane's blueprint for job creation

Maimane launched his party’s election manifesto in Johannesburg on Sunday.

Maimane, whose party will contest for votes in the 2024 provincial and national elections, said job creation is at the heart of their plans.

"All over the country, South Africans are struggling. We sit today at month end in January where many are struggling to make ends meet, to put food on the table and to educate and clothe their children.

“Those lucky enough to have a job wait patiently for payday, while the 11 million of our fellow neighbours who don’t have a job or lose hope of finding one.

"It is the bleak story of our country. We sit with the highest youth unemployment in the world while corrupt politicians find new ways every day to steal, break, and bend the rules for their own benefit.

“Our nation’s spirit is broken. We are robbed of dignity – dignity to have meaningful work, dignity to put food on the table.

“So many men in our country are stripped of their responsibility to provide for their family as they hustle to find any job that can pay just a small bit," says Maimane.

Maimane believes this year’s polls will see South Africans move away from voting along racial, ethnic, religious, gender or tribal lines.

"This is the story of our past, which has created and maintained a divided and deeply unequal society. Those who want to mobilise people on the basis of such immutable features cannot and do not have the vision to unite and build one South Africa.

“I am convinced that the fastest and surest way to build this South Africa is to create more jobs, create more wealth for families and to share with those who are in need," he added.

The former DA leader said it is his mission to draw up a plan that will put a job in every home.

"We have trawled through thousands of suggestions – and what South Africa is desperate for is a working economy that creates jobs, creates wealth, and improves living standards. Everything else is secondary to that.

“We have one plan – the Jobs Plan – a blueprint to building a South Africa that works.”