The provincial DA has voiced its concern over the growing unemployment in the country.
In a statement released on April 14, the DA stated that the ANC had failed to address unemployment while the population continues to grow. According to StatsSA’s fourth quarter findings of 2020, Mpumalanga’s expanded unemployment reached 46,4 per cent.
This is the third highest in the country, following only Limpopo and the Eastern Cape. This statistic stood at 43,8 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2019.
The expanded unemployment rate included those in the labour force who are out of employment but are looking for work, as well as those who out of a job and not looking for work.
The survey showed Mpumalanga had recorded net job losses of over 96 000 in 2020 alone.
In the province’s budget speech in March, the MEC of finance, economic development and tourism, Prince Vusumuzi Mkhatshwa, placed much of the blame on the Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdown.
The DA said afterwards it was not happy with the budget speech as it did had not addressed unemployment. Now, the party is elaborating on its complaints.
“With dysfunctioning parastatals like the Mpumalanga Economic Growth Agency (MEGA) and Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency (MTPA), the ever-growing population of Mpumalanga are facing a depressing and a bleak future in terms of job opportunities,” read a statement by the DA.
Both MEGA and the MTPA were given the mandate to drive economic growth in the province by creating employment opportunities.
“MEGA has dismally failed in its mandate, while the Mpumalanga provincial government are the ones who are making it hard and impossible for MTPA to create jobs through tourism,” said the DA.
The DA also cited bad infrastructure as a stumbling block to the MTPA to deliver on its mandate. “For a few years now, the roads leading to prominent tourist destinations in our province, like Pilgrim’s Rest, God’s Window, the Bourke’s Luck Potholes and the Kruger National Park, are ridden with potholes and are in a severely dilapidated condition. This has now become a deterrent for tourists wanting to visit our province.”
The DA has also called on the MEC of public works, roads and transport, Mohita Latchminarain, to prioritise fixing roads that lead to prominent tourist destinations.
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