Johannesburg - ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa has now set a target of attracting R1.4 trillion of investments in South Africa in the hope of securing job opportunities for young people.
Ramaphosa made the commitment while addressing thousands of ANC supporters as part of his party’s Siyanqoba Rally ahead of the May 8 national elections.
“We want to grow the economy of the country for the benefit of all. We want to attract R1.4 trillion investment in our country. It has never been done before in South Africa. We are going to do it. We are determined to achieve it build factories, mines, call centres and job opportunities for young people.
“We want to ensure that agriculture become the sunrise factor in the economy and to create jobs for our people,” Ramaphosa said.
He said his party committed to signing a social compact with labour to ensure that decent jobs are created in the country.
“When the ANC took over, only 8 million people had jobs and now more than 16 million have jobs. These are echoes of none other than the ANC,” he said.
Ramaphosa said his party was on the verge of revitalising industrial parks in the Free State, Northern Cape, Gauteng and other provinces to ensure that more jobs are created. We are going to do it whether they like it or not,” Ramaphosa said.
He took a swipe the DA controlled Western Cape government saying they had in the past claimed to have created more jobs than any other provinces in the country. In his view, Ramphosa said researchers have proved the Western Cape government wrong saying their findings have proved that more jobs were created in Gauteng.
He was reiterated an earlier statement by Gauteng Premier David Makhura who said more than 47% of jobs created in the country were located in Gauteng.
In his other bid to lure millions to support his party, Ramaphosa said his government will abandon a job experience requirements for new entrants to secure jobs in the national and provincial government departments including agencies.