Magashule: ANC will halve unemployment in 5 years
The African National Congress (ANC) has resolved to reduce unemployment from 27.6% to 14% over the next five years.
The resolution was taken at the party's National Executive Committee (NEC) lekgotla held in Pretoria over the past weekend.
The party’s secretary-general Ace Magashule briefed the media at the party's Luthuli House headquarters in Johannesburg on Tuesday.
"The lekgotla agreed that unemployment is a national emergency and needs to be reduced from 27.6% to 14% in the next five years, whilst focusing on a skilling and reskilling program to 3.5 million young South Africans," he said.
Magashule said the reduction in unemployment forms part of the implementation of the ANC's election manifesto.
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The ANC also agreed to expand the mandate of the South African Reserve Bank beyond just price stability to include growth and unemployment.
Magashule says the ANC's resolved to nationalise the central bank at its conference in 2017 but to expand the bank’s mandate does not need a constitutional amendment.