I Will Stand Up To Minister Oliphant Over Closed Down Labour Centres

145 Commissioner Street

Yesterday the DA visited the Department of Labour’s job centre at 145 Commissioner Street, which has been closed for almost two years now.

This means that Johannesburg’s job seekers are being denied access to work opportunities not only by an uncaring national government, but also by a city administration that is happy to sit on its hands and do nothing to take the National Minister, Mildred Oliphant, on.

This would change if I am elected Mayor of Johannesburg. The City can’t sit back and do nothing. I would stand up to Minister Oliphant from day one and tell her to reopen this important labour centre.

Labour Centres

Labour centres play a vital role in assisting job seekers to find employment. With the most important job centre in the city being closed down, while 66 000 additional people have joined the ranks of the unemployed in the last 3 months, many people will miss out on opportunities.

If the mayor is serious about creating jobs and building a prosperous city, he would also have established the City’s own job centres linked to the national centres and a central database of available job opportunities.

Job creation will be the DA’s first priority from the day we take office in Johannesburg.

Expanded Public Works Programme, Community Works Programme, City of Johannesburg internships

We will place all available Expanded Public Works Programme, Community Works Programme, City of Johannesburg internships, and other government jobs on a central database, which will be accessible via the Internet and at job centres.

We will invite the private sector to advertise their job vacancies on this same database in order to expand the pool of available jobs.

Change is coming to Johannesburg, change that boosts the local economy, creates jobs and transforms the city into a city that delivers a better life.

 

Media enquiries:

Willie Venter

060 963 8260

The DA has the vision to beat unemployment in Johannesburg

Randburg Labour Office

Today the DA visited the Randburg Labour Office in Johannesburg, to better understand the desperate plight of unemployed South Africans.

Job creation will be our first priority from day one in Johannesburg, when a DA government takes over governance in the city.

At the labour office, we reviewed the quality of service delivered by officials and spoke with numerous unemployed South Africans who have to queue each day to register their plight.

Managers briefed us on the number of job seekers who visit the centre every month, and the success rate of job seekers finding jobs. These numbers horrified and disturbed me, as so many more of our fellow South Africans join the ranks of the unemployed daily. I was deeply moved by the desperate poverty so many of our people find themselves in.

Expanded Public Works Programme

For this campaign to win Johannesburg, we have made it our mission to meet job-seekers every day, to take their plight on board and to make it our every effort to get into government and start a tidal wave of change that will create jobs and opportunities for millions of people.

In this campaign we want to hear first-hand accounts of how long people have been unemployed, how many times they have visited labour centres, and how many (if any) job opportunities and interviews they may have had.

And we are going to tell each and every one of these mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, of our plans to kick-start Johannesburg’s economy, and to create jobs for the thousands of unemployed people.

We are going to explain how the DA will place all available Expanded Public Works Programme, Community Works Programme, City of Johannesburg internships, and other government jobs on a central database, which will be accessible via the Internet and at job centres such as this one in Randburg.

Transforming City of Johannesburg

A DA-governed Johannesburg will invite the private sector to advertise their job vacancies on this same database so as to expand the pool of available jobs.

People will hear from me and the DA over the coming days and months how the City of Johannesburg led by the DA will offer a conditional subsidy to small businesses which have limited financial means, in order to recruit new workers, provided new  upskilled on the job.

For too long the City of Johannesburg has only sought to boost the local economy and to create jobs for insiders and connected cronies – yet the DA is ready to transform the city into South Africa’s and Africa’s powerhouse through fair job creation and a commitment to economic opportunities for all.

 

Media enquiries:

Willie Venter

Director: Communications and research

060 963 8260