Rudi Dicks and Dr Kate Phillips
Saving lives and livelihoods has been at the heart of our efforts to deal with the devastation caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. The pandemic has deepened the high levels of poverty and unemployment entrenched in our society by the legacy of apartheid.
The government established the Presidential Employment Stimulus to support livelihoods through job creation and retention. This programme has enabled many vulnerable South Africans to participate in meaningful work and receive a stable income. It has helped to cushion the blow for thousands of families across the country who would have been left destitute.
Our stimulus programme is a direct investment into public employment programmes to support job creation, and includes support for self-employment and the retention of jobs in vulnerable sectors hardest hit by the pandemic.
The speed and scale with which we have implemented the Presidential Employment Stimulus is unprecedented, and represents the most rapid expansion of public employment in our country’s history. During its first phase, more than half a million people have benefited and this number is expected to increase as several projects continue to come on stream.
The work performed as part of the programme created real public value, seen and felt by the communities across the country. Our employment of more than 300 000 school assistants in 26 000 schools has helped teachers to deal with their higher workload due to Covid-19.
Through our catchment management programmes we delivered cleaner water to communities and reduced pressure on our limited water resources. Through production input vouchers, over 50 000 subsistence farmers have been assisted back into production.
The Presidential Employment Stimulus helped to keep people connected to the labour market at a time when private sector opportunities have been limited. It has also provided them with skills to enhance their employability while the country’s economic recovery takes root.
In addition to creating jobs and supporting incomes, the employment stimulus has helped to revive consumer spending in poorer communities. The wages earned from public employment projects have helped to stimulate demand for goods and services in local communities, often supporting small enterprises and the informal sector.
While we have made positive inroads through the Presidential Employment Stimulus, the government alone cannot drive employment to the levels that we need to break the stranglehold of unemployment in our society.
We are implementing a range of complementary actions, including structural reforms, to stimulate private sector growth and create sustainable jobs. We call on the private sector to commit to employing more young people as part of our efforts to tackle youth unemployment.
The government has made the employment of young people an explicit focus of our employment drive. During Phase 1 of the Presidential Employment Stimulus, 84% of participants were young people below the age of 35 and two-thirds of all participants were women.
Through our Pathway Management Network, 170 000 unemployed youth were placed into work opportunities. The network was launched earlier this year by President Cyril Ramaphosa to actively support and link young people to jobs.
We encourage young people to join the network through the SAYouth.mobi, which can be accessed without data on all mobile operators. Young people can also access the network through 126 labour centres, implemented through the Department of Employment and Labour, as well as National Youth Development Agency centres across the country.
The government has learned valuable lessons from the first phase of the programme. We will use these insights to strengthen implementation in Phase 2 which has been allocated R11 billion for a range of new programmes.
One new initiative that is the establishment of a Social Employment Fund to support community-led organisations and initiatives, which create work that serves the common good.
We are at an advanced stage in the recruitment of 287 000 young people as school assistants to be placed next month. We will also soon launch a revitalised National Youth Service to recruit 35 000 young people.
Our efforts in Phase 2 will be strengthened through the Presidential Youth Employment Intervention, funded with R838 million to expand opportunities for unemployed young people. The government will also implement a new model of funding for skills training that links the training of young people directly to available jobs and economic opportunities in key sectors.
These are real opportunities that will benefit people across our country. A unique feature of the stimulus has been its high level of transparency – both in recruitment, using digital platforms like SAYouth.mobi, and in reporting through an online dashboard and regular progress reports.
Over the past year, we have demonstrated what can be achieved to create jobs through focused attention and strong partnerships. We are confident that through the continued support of business, labour and civil society we can create a common front under the Presidential Employment Stimulus to tackle and overcome one of our nation’s biggest challenges.
* Rudi Dicks is head of project management Office in the Presidency and Dr Kate Phillip is programme lead for the Presidential Employment Stimulus.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.