A FOUR-DAY cabinet lekgotla started yesterday with an admission by President Jacob Zuma that his government has failed to create jobs as he had promised.
Zuma blamed the global financial crisis, saying 2011 was a difficult year.
Zuma had declared 2011 a year of job creation and had tasked various government departments with ensuring that short-term and long-term jobs were created.
Zuma told the ANC NEC recently that South Africa had lost jobs instead of creating them, especially in the manufacturing sector.
"But we are ending the year on a positive and promising note as statistics released recently indicate that the unemployment rate has dropped ...
"(We are) not out of the woods yet, given the negative economic climate in the Eurozone which has had a profound negative impact on our country," Zuma said.
Evaluation and Monitoring Minister Collins Chabane said yesterday the lekgotla would deliberate on a mid-term assessment of the Zuma administration's performance since coming into office in 2009.
"From the point of view of ordinary citizens there is great expectation that we should build on the best aspects of our performance and that we should respond clearly and swiftly in instances where we could do better or where we are letting people down.
"We will also assess the state of our economy in view of the continued global recession and will evaluate our response to various international questions," Chabane said.
Ministers responsible for five national priorities of government will give a mid-term assessment report at the lekgotla. These include job creation, health, education, rural development and land reform.
In July last year, the cabinet lekgotla emphasised an urgent need to accelerate job creation and the provision of infrastructure in rural and urban areas.
The lekgotla then established two management structures in Zuma and Motlanthe's offices to look into infrastructure development and job creation, respectively.
It also adopted a 12-point plan on job creation, which focused on a number of interventions that run concurrently with all other job creation programmes in government.
The interventions included short-term employment schemes such as the expansion of the community works programme and big projects to be identified and monitored by Motlanthe.
The lekgotla also agreed to unblock private-sector projects with the aim of creating jobs.
The meeting will provide the basis for Zuma's State of the Nation address on February 9, which will give direction to government's programme for this year.
Zuma on jobs: we've failed
A FOUR-DAY cabinet lekgotla started yesterday with an admission by President Jacob Zuma that his government has failed to create jobs as he had promised.
Zuma blamed the global financial crisis, saying 2011 was a difficult year.
Zuma had declared 2011 a year of job creation and had tasked various government departments with ensuring that short-term and long-term jobs were created.
Zuma told the ANC NEC recently that South Africa had lost jobs instead of creating them, especially in the manufacturing sector.
"But we are ending the year on a positive and promising note as statistics released recently indicate that the unemployment rate has dropped ...
"(We are) not out of the woods yet, given the negative economic climate in the Eurozone which has had a profound negative impact on our country," Zuma said.
Evaluation and Monitoring Minister Collins Chabane said yesterday the lekgotla would deliberate on a mid-term assessment of the Zuma administration's performance since coming into office in 2009.
"From the point of view of ordinary citizens there is great expectation that we should build on the best aspects of our performance and that we should respond clearly and swiftly in instances where we could do better or where we are letting people down.
"We will also assess the state of our economy in view of the continued global recession and will evaluate our response to various international questions," Chabane said.
Ministers responsible for five national priorities of government will give a mid-term assessment report at the lekgotla. These include job creation, health, education, rural development and land reform.
In July last year, the cabinet lekgotla emphasised an urgent need to accelerate job creation and the provision of infrastructure in rural and urban areas.
The lekgotla then established two management structures in Zuma and Motlanthe's offices to look into infrastructure development and job creation, respectively.
It also adopted a 12-point plan on job creation, which focused on a number of interventions that run concurrently with all other job creation programmes in government.
The interventions included short-term employment schemes such as the expansion of the community works programme and big projects to be identified and monitored by Motlanthe.
The lekgotla also agreed to unblock private-sector projects with the aim of creating jobs.
The meeting will provide the basis for Zuma's State of the Nation address on February 9, which will give direction to government's programme for this year.
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