Pretoria – Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan says job creation is a central priority of government.
Focusing on government proposals on THE Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) during his Budget Speech on Wednesday, Gordhan said an additional R4.8 billion over the 2012 MTEF period is provided for the Expanded Public Works Programme, bringing its allocations to a total of R77.8 billion.
The community work programme receives an additional R3.5 billion, which gives it a total of R6.2 billion, enabling the number of people employed to increase to 332 000 in 2014/15 from 90 000 in March 2011.
“We will continue to increase allocations to this programme over time,” he said.
Working for Water and Working on Fire receive an additional R1.1 billion (a total of R7.7 billion) providing for a total of 135 000 jobs over the medium term.
The non-state sector programme receives an additional R345 million (a total of R1.1 billion). The National Rural Youth Service Corps receives an additional R200 million (a total of R900 million) over the next three years.
Gordhan said R300 million is added to the arts and culture sector for job creation. – BuaNews