KwaZulu-Natal Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube says the province has established a Jobs War Room, which has facilitated over 500 000 job opportunities through the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) across various sectors in KwaZulu-Natal.
In addition to the establishment of the Jobs War Room, Dube-Ncube said the Executive Council has resolved that each department, except for frontline service departments, must reprioritise within their budgets an amount of R10 million to contribute towards job creation through an intensified EPWP to benefit youth, women and people with disabilities.
“Last month, we announced that under the Expanded Public Works Programme, 84 348 work opportunities have been achieved, while 23 376 full time equivalents have been achieved,” Dube-Ncube said.
Dube-Ncube highlighted this during the unveiling of a groundbreaking campaign to create jobs targeting young people in Durban on Thursday.
The job creation campaign, called S’thesha Waya Waya, is a Department of Transport-driven campaign, which is part of honouring the commitment made by the Premier during her State of the Province Address (SOPA) earlier in the year.
During SOPA, Dube-Ncube committed all departments to set aside funds for fighting unemployment as part of the war room.
As part of the decisive intervention to reduce unemployment, KwaZulu-Natal announced a ground-breaking campaign to create jobs primarily in the transport sector, which has already seen more than 6 000 young people employed by the provincial Department of Transport and Community Safety and Liaison.
During the unveiling of the campaign, which was also attended by Transport Minister Sindisiwe Chikunga and KZN Transport, Community Safety and Liaison MEC, Sipho Hlomuka, Dube-Ncube explained the job creation campaign to thousands of newly employed young people, who came clad in their work uniforms and filled the stadium to maximum capacity.
Addressing the young people, Dube-Ncube said the launch showcased a sample of more than 6 000 employees, who are part of job creation interventions, including Vukayibambe Routine Road Maintenance Programme. The programme employs youth across the province, who are capacitated with skills required in routine road maintenance such as fixing road infrastructure damaged by floods.
Four thousand young people are employed under Vukayibambe. Through the programme and many more others in various government departments, the provincial government is making significant strides in creating jobs and work opportunities in order to end poverty and inequality.
“Other programmes where young people have benefitted include the National Youth Services, Road Safety Ambassadors, Walking Bus (who are responsible for school road safety crossing), Expanded Public Works Programme, Social Crime Prevention Programme, Graduate Interns and State Law Graduates,” Dube-Ncube said.
The Premier said through the Department of Transport Programmes, 89 297 jobs were created in the 2022/23 financial year, with the aim of creating 292 248 jobs in the 2023/24 financial year.
In addition, Dube-Ncube said the provincial government has employed over 1 800 Social Crime Prevention Volunteers under the Department of Community Safety and Liaison.
“They have been trained in basic crime fighting and they are deployed in crime hotspots to assist in crime fighting interventions,” Dube-Ncube said.
Government integrated jobs portal
Meanwhile, the Premier announced that the provincial government will be launching the Provincial Government Integrated Jobs Portal, where every single Job in government will be advertised.
“We are consolidating the portal so that it is easy to find the skills that are required, but we are also saying that for those who cannot access this portal, do not despair. We will make these posts available in every local government office near you,” Dube-Ncube said.
