Hon Chairperson, hon Minister, hon members of the NCOP, members of the public and guests, the President of South Africa, hon Jacob Zuma, announced in his state of the nation address on 10 February 2011 that there will be millions more jobs for the people in South Africa. The hon Minister of Economic Development, Ebrahim Patel, announced in his budget speech on 12 April 2011 that the New Growth Path sets out the vision that there will be 5 million new jobs by 2020. That places employment at the centre of government's work and policies. But the state can't be the main driver of jobs over the next decade. There simply isn't enough money for that. Conditions need to be created for the private sector to flourish and to encourage the private sector to create jobs. That won't happen if the proposed legislation dealing with labour brokers is passed, as it will force companies to provide benefits for temporary workers.
South Africa faces a severe problem of persistent structural unemployment. This results not only from low growth but more importantly from the pattern of growth. More rapid economic growth is an important objective. But at any given level of growth, the economy needs to become more labour demanding.
Sustainable growth in job creation to reach government's aim of halving South Africa's unemployment by 2014 will depend on new and bigger business investment. The problem is that government will have to create 2 million new jobs in the public sector, which will cost government around R25 billion. The private sector will have to take responsibility for 3 million jobs, if around 5 million new jobs are to be created by 2020. That puts new emphasis on entrepreneurship, which is not one of South Africa's strong points.
However, successful entrepreneurs are so important that universities will increasingly have to make more entrepreneurial choices available in their selection of courses. All departments had a budget for job creation. Where are the jobs? Where are the trained youth in different departments? Where are the investments in the country to create jobs for all the millions who want to make a contribution to the economy of South Africa?
More development in the private sector will create more sustainable jobs for the people of South Africa. The shortage of schooled and skilled labour, which stands at 37%, is for the fifth year in a row the single biggest factor handicapping South Africa's growth in development. Grant Thornton's latest International Business Report shows that South Africa has 30% too many regulations and this overregulation is also handicapping growth in the South African economy.
Hon Minister, what about the rural areas in South Africa? The DA believes, as many people in our country do, that the relationship with BRICS countries, which include South Africa, will have the outcome of more jobs for the poor and the disadvantaged people in South Africa. With the support of these countries, there must be an opportunity for government to develop and create jobs in the rural areas. Government can't underestimate the importance of development of these areas in our country. We must keep our people in the rural areas for the sake of stability and to prevent depopulation.
Given the above, I couldn't understand Mr Jimmy Manyi's statement about removing certain race groups to different provinces in South Africa. This will lead to more depopulation of rural areas and the overcrowding of urban areas, not to mention the unhappiness of people being forced to leave their homes for a new destination.
Statistics SA's Quarterly Labour Force Survey shows a gain of 133 000 jobs in the year up to the first quarter of 2011 in the category of community and social services, which is mostly government created. However, total job gains were 40 000, meaning that a total of 93 000 jobs were lost in the private sector over this period. For government and state utilities to provide jobs is expensive for the taxpayer.
At public corporations, it could be argued that job growths could reflect spending on infrastructure by Transnet and Eskom, and that is a good thing. But this spending is highly capital-intensive, with little spin-off in the form of job growth. The jobs wouldn't necessarily fall under the public sector company; that company would be shown as the employer. Construction job numbers have fallen.
The state's role in employment creation would still be acceptable if it happened at a low cost. But Public Service unions have asked for a 9% salary increase this year - more than double South Africa's inflation rate. According to the Manpower survey, 14% of South African employers are struggling to fill essential vacancies. The jobs most in demand locally are drivers, machine operators, accounting staff, supervisors, health professionals and skilled traders.
On the oversight visits to labour centres by the select committee it was shocking to see how many people were sitting there, waiting for a possible job. Some of the centres handled more than 300 people a day. Between government and the private sector there is a responsibility to get more projects going all over South Africa. Let's improve the infrastructure by uplifting the quality of roads, upgrading rail lines, improving water supply by building more storage dams in our river systems and training people and letting them work in teams. For example, let them deforest the alien forests in South Africa. [Time expired.]