By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Employment and Labour Minister Thulas Nxesi has announced that the Department of Employment and Labour (DEL) would be launching a new Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) Labour Activation Programme (LAP) to provide training for employment and entrepreneurship programmes.
The Unemployment Insurance Fund’s Labour Activation Programme (LAP) will be first launched in Gauteng with the provincial government, and then it would be progressively rolled out during April throughout the provinces, countrywide.
The rest of the provincial rollout is as follows: KwaZulu-Natal on April 16, Western Cape on April 17, Eastern Cape on April 19, Free State on April 22, North West on April 23, Mpumalanga on April 24, Limpopo on April 30, and Northern Cape on May 9.
Nxesi said the DEL, with the UIF, would partner with provincial governments for these projects to ensure that government maximised the impact of its spending resources and eliminated duplication.
He said that he is determined to strengthen employment creation in the country.
The LAP projects build on a mandate that include:
– Enhancing the employability of the unemployed through training
– Enable entrepreneurship through enterprise development
– Preserve jobs through CCMA and Productivity SA
– Collaborate across Government Departments and entities to massify jobs, skills training and enterprise creation.
“Labour activation programmes are not silver bullet to end the challenge of unemployment, but they are a viable force multiplier that can be used together with other initiatives and interventions as part of a response to mitigate unemployment,” the minister said.
The department has decided to partner with the private sector to create thousands of employment opportunities in SA.
Nxesi hopes these companies and industries will contribute significantly to sectors such as agriculture, ICT, construction, engineering, manufacturing, education, transport and mining.
“An amount of R23.8 billion will be allocated to implement this plan. Opportunities will run between 12 and 36 months. The money invested in the plan will be recouped by the UIF through contributions and revenue generated from investments, as has been the sustainability model of the Fund,” he said.
“The spread of our implementation nationally will be across every province – with 333 recommended projects to provide 7 training, small enterprise support and employment opportunities to 704,000 unemployed people”.
These projects will be launched over the coming weeks starting with 55 projects in Phase one for Gauteng. Phase two will take place on 12 April 2024.
Collaboration with the provinces will assist in matching of projects, recruitment, funding, build partnerships and will reduce duplication,” the minister added.
He also explained that the projects will be broken down into districts to ensure an even spread across Johannesburg, in the first instance, and then the other provinces.
“A key benefit to us with this approach is the shared responsibility of managing and monitoring projects,” he added.