ANC confident it can solve unemployment crisis
The ANC insists it will be able to create more than 2.5 million jobs over the next five years through various government programmes.
The number is contained in the governing party’s election manifesto recently unveiled by President Cyril Ramaphosa in Durban.
The ANC, which has been in power since 1994, has come under fire for failing to tackle South Africa's growing unemployment crisis.
Statistics South Africa's latest Quarterly Labour Force Survey shows 7.9 million people don't have jobs in the country.
The official unemployment rate reached 32.1% in December 2023.
During the ANC's post-manifesto briefing on Thursday, the chair of the party’s sub-committee on economic transformation, Mmamoloko Kubayi, said the governing party understands the urgency of the crisis.
“We committed to supporting programmes such as teacher assistance in schools, which we started as an initiative. It started with about 500 jobs; we expanded it to 1 million, and we’ve been able to deliver tangible results.
“So, we are saying this area of mass employment programme must be expanded to 2.5 million by the government, but this does not necessarily mean that all other areas are not going to create jobs.”
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