President Cyril Ramaphosa announced on Monday that applications are now open for organisations to become Strategic Implementing Partners of government’s Social Employment Fund which aims to create around 50 000 work opportunities in the face of high unemployment in South Africa.

The new Social Employment Fund was launched as part of the second phase of the Presidential Employment Stimulus.

R800-million has been allocated to the fund, which is being led by the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition and managed by the Industrial Development Corporation.

Through the fund, government will support non-governmental, community-based and civil society organisations, as well as social enterprises to create jobs.

Ramaphosa said as the country tries to recover and rebuild in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Social Employment Fund will be a critical driver of development and social upliftment.

Organisations looking to partner with the Fund must be able to create work for at least 1 000 participants, and will be expected to reach the employment target within the first quarter of implementation.
 
Eighty per cent of the funds received needs to be spent on wages, while work opportunities under the Social Employment Fund will be part-time.

“Participants will perform an average of two days of work a week, and we want to encourage the private sector and the donor community to support these organisations, which will enable participants to be paid for more workdays a week,” Ramaphosa said.