PRETORIA, OCTOBER 12, 2018 (CISA)-Bishop Abel Gabuza, the Chairman of the Justice and Peace Commission of the Southern African Catholic Bishops Conference (SACBC) has appealed to the government of South Africa to involve youths and women in future job summits in order to curb uneven distribution of job opportunities in the country.
“The problem of unemployment in South Africa wears gendered faces and young faces. We therefore expect more women and more unemployed youth to be well represented in any platform designed to address unemployment crisis,” said Bishop Abel in his address during the job summit held in Pretoria.
Bishop Gabuza expressed his satisfaction “with the President’s leadership regarding the economic stimulus and Recovery Plan, together with his commendable decision to establish and infrastructure Fund.”
According to Fides, Bishop Gazuba also urged President Ramaphosa to consider recommendations of other civil society groups in the country that have called for “the basic income grant and serious review of youth wage subsidy” as a way of addressing the rising cost of living characterized by rising prices of basic items and the rising rates of unemployment.
He hopes that the discussions of the summit will lead into effective consultations with all the stakeholders on the required adjustments to fit the preexisting economic condition in the country.
Guided by the initiatives and employment agreements agreed by the participants of the summit held from October 4 to 5, President Ramaphosa is hopeful that it will lead to the creation of about 275,000 new jobs every year.
Unemployment statistics in South Africa show that despite the employment growth of 206,000 jobs in the second quarter of 2018, the unemployment rate is 27.2 percent.
In line with the National development Plan, the government intends to increase the number of persons employed from the current 11 million to 24 million by 2030.
