State looks at job creation

The first President’s Co-ordinating Council looked at cutting unemployment and gave clear direction to municipalities regarding their responsibilities, said Mayor Masondo.
Masondo says Joburg is clear about its responsibilities to the national drive to create 5 million jobs in the next 3 yearsMasondo says Joburg is clear about its responsibilities to the national drive to create 5 million jobs in the next 3 yearsPRESIDENT Zuma’s plan to create five million jobs in the next three years has been discussed behind closed doors with Joburg’s executive mayor and the provincial premiers at the inaugural meeting of the President’s Co-ordinating Council (PCC).

Executive Mayor Amos Masondo said deliberations at the meeting had made clear to municipalities their responsibilities in dealing effectively with job creation and service delivery. He was speaking in his capacity as the chairperson of the South African Local Government Association (Salga).

“The meeting has set a very firm foundation that will enable municipalities to go ahead and engage in extensive planning, so that by the next meeting things will be fairly clear on the kind of contribution that municipalities should be making,” he said.

Deliberations at the PCC were in line with Zuma’s state of the nation speech, made on 10 February, in which he introduced a R9-billion job fund designed to finance job-creation initiatives. At the time, the president said the government’s main priority this year would be creating jobs, declaring 2011 the “year of job creation”.

In his final state of the City speech, delivered on 9 March, Masondo said reducing unemployment remained a key priority, and Johannesburg had developed a “comprehensive plan” of how it would contribute.

New Growth Path
This would be in keeping with the New Growth Path targets of reducing unemployment from 25 percent to 15 percent nationally over the next 10 years.

Nomvula Mokonyane is confident that Gauteng is on the right pathNomvula Mokonyane is confident that Gauteng is on the right pathThe PCC is a gathering of the president and all provincial premiers, to monitor performance. It gives everyone a platform to share ideas for resolving common challenges, and acquaints the president with what is happening in the country in terms of service delivery.

It was called on Tuesday, 29 March at the Union Buildings, in Pretoria and was attended by Trevor Manual, the minister in the Presidency for national planning; Collins Chabane, the minister in the Presidency; Minister of Police Nathi Mthethwa; and Gauteng Premier Nomvula Mokonyane, as well as all other premiers.

Mokonyane said the outcome of the PCC had been the realisation that all provinces and municipalities “are striving towards a sustainable and prosperous country”.

The meeting had provided a platform to share best practices in trying to speed up job creation and service delivery. “We have all learned from one another, even from national we are getting necessary support that helps with sustainable development,” she said.

“I think in line with the commitment to co-operative governance and performance monitoring, this was a very interesting meeting where all of us measured whether we are moving forward in terms of that commitment of the number of jobs we want to create.”

Zuma said the meeting would be called frequently to monitor performance and governance at provincial and municipal levels. The first meeting had also focused on ensuring co-ordination among the three spheres of government, as undertaken in the state of the nation speech.