Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi. Photo: The Citizen/Nigel Sibanda
Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi has waged a fresh war on unemployment in the province, with over 600 000 citizens applying to be trained in the province.
Addressing the opening of the Gauteng legislature on Thursday evening in Katlehong, Lesufi announced an investment to provide skills training.
“We have signed a groundbreaking agreement to reskill the unemployed people of Gauteng at the value of R1.1 billion that we have received from the National Skills Fund.
“This will be added to the R8 billion we have already received from the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) where we are reskilling almost 500 000 unemployed residents.
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Lesufi said unemployed citizens had been invited to identify skills they want to be trained in, with over 600 000 people responding.
“We have now categorised them and are ready to reskill them.
We say ‘Choose the career that you want. This government will take you to Tvet and skills colleges. We will pay for training fees and while you are still training we will pay you a stipend of R3 000 a month until you qualify'”
He said 36 schools had been changed to schools of specialisation, to teach vital skills.
This, as his current jobs programmes have come under scrutiny and criticism.
The contracts of 32 000 Gauteng Youth Brigade (GYB) beneficiaries hired as teaching assistants ended on 31 July, despite Premier Panyaza Lesufi promising in February that it would be extended to 2025.
He used his address to apologise to those who lost their jobs, while stating the province had paid out of its “own pocket” to keep it going for two years.
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“We want to apologise to them for the abrupt termination but assure them that with new investment opportunities, we will open new opportunities, so they do not rely on temporary jobs.”
Lesufi said a specialised unit to counter taxi violence will now be housed under the roads and transport department.
“We can’t allow taxi violence to be out of hand and inconvenience citizens. We are working with law enforcement and I am proud that a new force dedicated to fighting fire with fire with taxi hooligans will be moved so they can be dedicated to fight.”
Without naming the areas, Lesufi said 26 townships will be given free Wi-Fi and data.
“The future battle will not be about water and electricity, but about accessibility to data so that our children can connect without leaving their homes.”
This while an anti-land invasion strategy will be implemented so that no new informal settlements will pop up in the province.
Gauteng will invest R120 billion to expand the Gautrain to reach Soweto, Fourways, Mamelodi, Attridgeville, Vaal, Lanseria, and Springs.
“The expansion of Gautrain is expected to create over 125 000 jobs during construction over five years. The bid to construct these lines closes next month.”
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Lesufi said he had recently received a lifestyle audit for heads of departments in the province, with some failing.
“I will brief the people of Gauteng further on this report, and we are also prepared to release this report”.
He said 28 health facilities and five schools had gone off the grid and were uninterrupted by load shedding.
Lesufi also paid tribute to former ministers Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and Naledi Pandor, announcing a special legislature sitting in August to honour them.
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