Chester Makana

Chester Makana

The Limpopo government has vowed to recreate thousands of jobs lost because of the global economic recession.

This was revealed by acting premier Cassel Mathale yesterday at a media briefing to present a "15 years review report" on the work done by government since the dawn of democracy in 1994.

The report was compiled by external experts assigned to assess and evaluate government work in different spheres. Mathale said Limpopo was among the provinces affected by the global economic recession as thousands of jobs have been lost, especially in the mining sector.

He also said that unemployment was high and something needed to be done urgently. "We should move swiftly to develop provincial economic stimulus packages to respond to the global economic meltdown."

He said the crisis has the potential to undermine and reverse government's gains.

Mathale said the government was planning to use cost centres and infrastructure development to create more jobs, with a possibility of turning Musina, a boarder town with Zimbabwe, into a transport hub centre.

Mathale said 2000 jobs will be created in the transport sector with the revamping of the cost centre. "We are going to employ more people in the transport sector, some of whom will be involved in the maintenance of infrastructure.

However, according to the 2007 Statistics SA Review, the province boasts a record of 81 percent of access to electricity, thus even exceeding the national average.

The report further indicated that classrooms backlog has been reduced from 35000 in 1994 to 1000 in the 2007-08 financial year.