This is how the DA says it will create jobs in your city
The DA has launched its Cities for Jobs document – a ‘blueprint’ for change that it claims will bring jobs and economic growth to cities all across South Africa.
Speaking at the launch of the document in Mamelodi, Tshwane, DA Leader Mmusi Maimane said that while the struggle pre-1994 was to secure political rights and freedoms, the struggle post-1994 is the struggle for jobs and employment.
“Political freedom has been attained, yet economic freedom is still a pipe-dream for the 8.9 million jobless South Africans – 5.9 million under the age of 35. And things are set to get worse. Unless we make some bold changes, there will soon be over nine million unemployed people with over six million of them being young people,” the DA lead said.
Maimane said that the Cities for Jobs document is the DA’s plan to create jobs at local government level.
Local governments – and particularly the governments of our big metros – have a bigger role to play in beating unemployment than any other level of government, he said. Local governments create the conditions that make businesses either invest in an area, or look elsewhere to grow their business.
Maimane said that the document is based on the political party’s successes where it already governs, including the City of Cape Town and Midvaal, in Gauteng.
Read: The truth and lies in the DA’s 2016 election manifesto
“Only the DA understands what is needed to turn our cities into job-creating investment hubs. Which is why the DA-run City of Cape Town has the lowest unemployment figures of all our Metros.
“This is also why the DA-run Midvaal municipality has an unemployment rate that is less than half the rate of the rest of Gauteng,” Maimane said.
He pointed out that the ANC has blamed the country’s perpetual jobs crisis solely on “global conditions”, yet where the DA governs the facts suggested otherwise.
“In fact, where we govern, jobs are being created. the number of employed persons in Cape Town increased by 4,000 in the first 3 months of the year, whereas the number of employed persons decreased by 111,000 and 14,000 in Ekurhuleni and Buffalo City, respectively,” Maimane said.
DA jobs policies
Maimane said that the jobs document speaks to the DA’s offer to create more jobs through innovative local government policies in three key ways:
- 1. By providing individuals and businesses with key growth enablers such as housing solutions, reliable public transport and improved ICT access as well as honest governance and infrastructure-led growth.
Housing: Increasing housing opportunities in well-located areas close to economic opportunity with access to public transport, recreational amenities and community facilities means improving people’s chances of finding and keeping a job.
It reduces the distance workers have to travel every day and their transport costs, and minimises the time people spend away from their families, Maimane said.
Further to this, cities and towns governed by the DA have recognised the urgent need for speeding up title deed delivery.
Public Transport: In the absence of reliable, state-sponsored public transport, too many South Africans are reliant on costly, burdensome and often unsafe transport options provided by private operators.
Technology and Innovation: Maimane said that Information and Communications Technology (ICT) has great potential for overcoming structural barriers and connecting people with education and employment opportunities.
To this end, DA-run local governments have prioritised investment in ICT and improved access to broadband for all people living where we govern, the DA lead said.
Honest Government: Good governance at local government level requires the effective management of available resources and clear accountability to residents. As a country, we face enormous development and service delivery challenges, compounded by high levels of joblessness and crime.
Maimane said that efficient and responsive governments must create an enabling environment for private sector activity in support of growth and increased job creation.
Local governments, with the necessary political will, can ensure that resources are used in service of residents and to attract job creating investment, he said.
Infrastructure-Led Growth: “DA-led governments are committed to infrastructure-led growth and providing an environment conducive to private sector investment that creates jobs. Local economic development requires continual investment in ICT, transport, roads and water infrastructure, in particular,” Maimane said.
- 2. By making it easier for businesses to start and grow, including by simplifying and reducing local government regulation.
Maimane pointed to the Western Cape’s Red Tape Reduction Unit, set up to assist and collaborate with municipalities with regards to their Local Red Tape Reduction (LRTR) efforts.
“Another key way we make it easier for businesses to grow is by creating jobs through air and open tender processes. In the City of Cape Town, when tenders are being adjudicated by the Bid Adjudication Committee, the meetings are open to the public – the City was the first municipality to do this in South Africa,” Maimane said.
- 3. By assisting small and micro enterprises in the informal economy by, among others, ensuring the sector is included in Local Economic Development planning and Integrated Development Planning.
Maimane said that the DA is committed to establishing Local Economic Development (LED) one-stop shops and e-systems to provide information on investment opportunities, licensing, land use, planning approval procedures, regulatory compliance investor information and business start-up advice to drive and promote job creating investment.
“We as the DA are clear in our belief that it is individuals, no government, who create jobs, growth and employment. That is true freedom.
“The role of government is to make it easier for individuals to experience such freedom, and not to limit it,” Maimane said.
South Africans will go to the polls on 3 August 2016.
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