DEPUTY president Cyril Ramaphosa says he is confident that the target of reaching six million jobs by 2019 is attainable after visiting a public employment programme in Orange Farm on Wednesday.
He said Government would “reach it and exceed it”.
Ramaphosa inspected the employment programme at the Orange Farm Skills Centre, where he spoke to workers.
This was part of the extended public works programme.
“This is really meaningful. This shows government at work,” he said in his opening remarks at the public employment programme inter-ministerial committee meeting, which he was chairing.
“This is how we engage with our people.”
He said it was inspiring work undertaken by the City of Johannesburg and its partners.
Ramaphosa was accompanied by Gauteng Premier David Makhura, Co-operative Governance Minister Pravin Gordhan, Small Business Minister Lindiwe Zulu and Deputy Public Works Minister Jeremy Cronin on the inspection.
Ramaphosa said he was particularly impressed with the food garden.
He spoke to workers, who were excited to interact with him. They showed Ramaphosa the vegetables they were growing and told him about the experience they had gained.
The food garden produced food for a soup kitchen which fed around 500 people.
“This is a valuable community contravention,” Ramaphosa said. “Many people often look down on the contribution of this to the lives of our people.”
He said people told him the opportunity had given them dignity, improved their lives and given them a skill.
“Never look down on this. Looking down on this is looking down on our people.
“This is how you build a nation, a nation fractured by apartheid… this is part of the work we are involved in.”
The interministerial committee was holding its inaugural meeting at the skills centre on Wednesday. – News 24
