This time of the year matrics are saying farewell to school life but the job market does not seem so welcoming.
The Gauteng Economic Development Department again failed the youth of the province in terms of its youth job creation targets.
The target to create 2 484 permanent jobs via departmental programmes was missed in that only 16 jobs were created or a success rate of 0,63 per cent was achieved, while the programme target of 1 516 temporary jobs rendered 44 temporary jobs or a success rate of 2,95 per cent. To put it mildly, creating 60 jobs out of the envisaged 4 000 is a monumental failure.
The Department’s 2012/13 Annual Report paints a very different picture. While the Administration and Integrated Development Services realised just over 50 per cent of their targets in general, the targets for the unemployed youth differ radically.
Moreover the planned Youth Unemployment programme of creating six township hubs dissolved into one, namely Winterveldt which by September this year was not functional. Despite these failures the Department still managed to spend 99.95 percent of its budget.
The department is the provincial government’s primary driver of job creation and economic development and it has failed the youth consistently since the 2010/11 financial year.
The youth of Gauteng are left in the lurch by the provincial government despite Economic Development MEC Eric Xayiya’s acknowledging the crisis in youth unemployment and despite the vision of “sustainable job creation and creating decent work”.
While the MEC correctly mentions that Gauteng contributes 34,5 per cent to South Africa’s GDP and that this is “linked to the Provinces good record of service delivery … and creating jobs on a massive scale” the official statistics for Gauteng reflect unemployment at 30 per cent.
