ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa attends the party's manifesto launch at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban on Saturday, February 24.Photo provided
The ANC has made job creation the focus of its 2024 election manifesto, with six key priorities it hopes will appeal to voters at the May 29 general election.
In a manifesto released on Saturday, the ruling party pledged to expand public employment to maintain job opportunities for 2.5 million people and provide goods and services to local communities. President Cyril Ramaphosa read out the 58-page document to a packed Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban.
The ANC has published its manifesto as it faces the possibility of decline at the next election after proving inadequate in creating an environment favorable to job creation.
The party said it would phase in the basic income support subsidy by expanding and improving the amount and scope of the social distress relief subsidy for the unemployed, particularly to attract poorer South Africans.
The party's jobs plan was announced days after Statistics South Africa announced that the official unemployment rate for the fourth quarter of 2023 reached 32.1%. In the fourth quarter, there were 46,000 more people unemployed than in the previous three months, and total employment fell for the first time in two years.
South Africa's employment crisis has worsened in the wake of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic, with more than two million people losing their jobs in the second quarter of 2020. That said, there are now approximately 300,000 more people employed than before the coronavirus outbreak. A decline caused by this occurred, and it took him over three years to reach a modest recovery.
The ANC manifesto states that part of the job-boosting package is the Presidential Employment Stimulus, established in response to the devastating economic impact of the pandemic, and funding for civil society through non-profit companies and organizations that provide work opportunities. It has been shown that this will be done through provision.
The party announced that it would work with the South African Defense Force to expand and institutionalize the National Youth Authority, as well as provide job opportunities for unemployed graduates.
It said it would strengthen support for small businesses, entrepreneurs and cooperatives, especially in townships and villages, and provide work opportunities for an additional 1 million people, including women, youth and people with disabilities.
The ANC said it would engage the private sector to protect jobs and contribute to national efforts towards job creation.
The party will ensure that black people, women and people with disabilities are represented in the public and private sectors, and grow a vibrant, non-racial and non-sexist middle class essential to the country's development. committed to continue promoting and monitoring employment equity to ensure that .
Critics will likely argue that the ANC's master plan for job creation does not clearly outline how this will be implemented, and that the party is simply recycling existing government initiatives. Dew.
The ANC brought its electoral machinery to KwaZulu-Natal last week in hopes of bringing back disgruntled supporters who stayed home during the last national election in 2019.
This year, the party will lose control of KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng, the country's two largest provinces by population. The rise of former ANC and South African president Jacob Zuma's Umkhonto Wesizwe party has thrown yet another curveball into the party's already bleak prospects in KwaZulu-Natal.
In its manifesto, the party said South Africa has a financial sector that diversifies ownership and control, provides affordable credit, invests in industrialization, infrastructure and job creation, promotes financial inclusion and prioritizes domestic investment. He said change was needed.
“Since 1994, our economy has tripled in size and poverty rates have declined. Unemployment remains high, but the number of employed people has increased from 8 million in 1994 to 16.7 million today. This has more than doubled,” Prime Minister Ramaphosa said in a speech to launch the document.
“Many people who were previously economically excluded, such as workers, the middle class, young people, women and people with disabilities, are now actively participating in the economy. However, South Africa continues to have too many unemployed people. Wealth inequality persists, with too many people living in poverty and income.
He said economic transformation remained the ANC's top priority, and the party opposed price-fixing in all areas, while also supporting food security, including exemptions from VAT on essential goods and support for local communities and home gardens. He said it would be a priority.
“We will maintain and expand subsidized basic services such as water, housing for the poor, and local poverty policies. “We will look for other ways to expand solar power and bring solar power to poorer areas,” he said.
“We will strengthen health services and introduce NHI (National Health Insurance) to make health care affordable for all. As required by law, we will increase the national minimum wage annually; Monitor implementation by employers.”
To prepare young people for the future economy, the ANC government said it would increase enrollment in maths and science and expand coding, robotics, technical education, and technical and vocational training.
The party will address the crisis of young people out of employment, education and training by stepping up efforts to reduce the number of learners who do not leave school, giving them a second chance to get into university through community colleges and vocational schools. said that it would provide an opportunity for
“We will continue the work we have done to further reduce data costs and train people young and old to develop and operate new technologies. We will increase the availability of service facilities that provide essential services, close to economic hubs for people, veterans and the elderly,” said Mr Ramaphosa.
“At the same time, we will continue to improve and formalize informal settlements and provide basic services.”
