Treasury allocates R61bn towards employment programmes over medium term

CAPE TOWN - The National Treasury is pumping R61.4 billion over the medium term to help alleviate the country’s growing unemployment crisis.

Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana said it has also allocated R7.4 billion for the Presidential Employment Initiative to help get South Africans back to work and grow the economy. 

The allocation is set aside for the initiative for 2024/25 by reprioritising funding from the Unemployment Insurance Fund’s labour activation programme.

About R4 billion will also be made available for hiring more teacher assistants through the Basic Education Employment Initiative in provinces.

This year’s budget speech comes just a day after Statistics South Africa released its latest quarterly labour force survey, which showed an increase in unemployment to over 32%.

But the National Treasury said it would be funding various initiatives like the Presidential Employment Initiative to try to stem the jobs bloodbath. 

The programme has assisted over 1.7 million people according to National Treasury.

Godongwana: "R61.4 billion is allocated for employment programmes over the medium term. R7.4 billion has been identified for the Presidential Employment Initiative."

National Treasury said an additional amount of R1.1 billion would be allocated to the Social Employment Fund administered by the Industrial Development Corporation to promote work in local communities.