ACDP addresses unemployment

By Cindy Witten
19 June 2009

While the country experiences its first recession in 17 years, many South Africans have lost their jobs or have been retrenched. In light of this, finding employment is becoming increasingly difficult.

Addressing the National Assembly in Parliament today, the ACDP’s Cheryllyn Dudley said she hopes that President Zuma’s target of creating half a million jobs by the end of the year will be reached.

“Of course the bulk of the jobs envisaged will be realized through the Public Works initiative and will therefore only relieve pressure for a period of time,” said Dudley.

While the ACDP welcomes the budget increase of 150%, she says that this will place workers back in a market which may not yet have recovered from the recession.

She said that for the plan to work, utilisable skills development is important.

Dudley believes that “in order to create good honest work, more must be done to attract and encourage industries to relocate to South Africa from the wider global arena”.
She went on to say that “Relocation incentives would have to include the necessary infra-structure and training facilities for relevant skills to facilitate these industries”.