House Chairperson, over the past five years the Industrial Development Corporation, IDC, supported growth economic inclusion and job creation through directly investing R72 billion which attracted a further R78 billion in private investment. That means its investment footprint taken together was about R150 billion.
I wish to note hon members that in this period the fiscus did not contribute any money to the IDC and the corporation raised all of this money from its balance sheet and from the return on its investment portfolio. It is therefore currently self-funding and it has been so for more than the last 25 years.
This investment by the IDC, hon Matsimbi, helped to create and to save about 96 000 jobs; jobs for young people, people in the rural areas, workers in high-tech sectors and for those in labour intensive sectors. It has also helped to promote greater African economic integration by committing investment to neighbouring countries.