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The Congress of South African Trade Unions welcomes the launch of the Government’s Jobs Fund, announced on 7 June 2011 by Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan.

The Fund - promised by President Jacob Zuma in his State of the Nation Speech on 10 February - will make R9 billion of grants available over the next three years, with R2 billion of that set aside for this financial year. The private sector is expected to match these amounts and COSATU urges business to come to the party without delay.

It is very encouraging to see the government putting its money where its mouth is, and COSATU urges private companies, NGOs and government entities to waste no time in lodging proposals for creating job opportunities in the four areas that the minister identified: enterprise development, infrastructure investment, support for work seekers and overcoming institutional barriers to job creation, with particular emphasis on work for young people.

COSATU notes the commitment by a Treasury official that they will closely monitor how the money is spent. We must make sure that there is no abuse and that every cent of the money is used solely for job creation.

Through the New Growth Path, the government has set itself the target of creating 5 million jobs over 10 years. It hopes that this new fund will 150 000 jobs this year, just 3% of that target. The Fund, important though it is, should not divert attention from the many other measures which will also be necessary to achieve the remaining 97% of that 5 million target.

We are sitting on a ticking bomb. Unless we solve this problem of mass unemployment, particularly finding work for young people, there will be a tsunami of revolt from people who see no hope and no prospects of ever getting to live a decent life.

We must press on with restructuring our economy on to a new growth path so that we can escape from the economy we inherited from colonialism which is over-dependent on the export of raw materials, and dominated by the mining and financial sectors, and to move to one based on manufacturing.

In order to achieve this, the minister needs to adopt a developmental fiscal and monetary policy, which will synchronise with his job creation strategy, by providing incentives, tariff protection and low interest rates to stimulate manufacturing and employment.

COSATU congratulates Comrade Frans Baleni, General Secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers, on his appointment as Chairperson of the Jobs Fund investment committee, which is to allocate the money.

The federation also welcomes and fully supports the government’s announcement of a state procurement plan to change the rules of engagement to ensure that all levels of government – municipal, provincial and national – give preference to supplies and services from domestic firms. The aim is to ensure that jobs are not lost in the domestic economy to overseas suppliers to the government and that procurement boosts local job retention and creation.

Details of the Jobs Fund are available on www.jobfund.org.za or at 086 100 3272 toll-free.