Pretoria – The lives of thousands of young job seekers in Gauteng, who registered for job opportunities at the Kliptown Job Centre, have been turned around.
The job centre is part of the Gauteng Provincial Government’s Tshepo 500 000 Programme launched by Premier David Makhura in December 2014. The programme was established to create half a million new sustainable jobs for the youth by 2019.
On Thursday, Gauteng MEC for Social Development Nandi Mayathula-Khoza officially opened the job centre, which is located at Freedom Square in Kliptown, Soweto.
Speaking at the event, MEC Mayathula-Khoza said the new job centre has already registered 4 977 young people from surrounding townships, including Eldorado Park, Pimville, Klipspruit and Dlamini.
Of the 4 977 young people registered, 2 073 of them have been absorbed into permanent jobs, while a further 200 have been accredited as entrepreneurs.
MEC Mayathula-Khoza said Tshepo 500 000 has made impressive progress since its launch by Premier Makhura in 2014.
“We have registered 268 386 unemployed young people and of these, 59 829 are now placed in sustainable jobs. This number is inclusive of young men, women, people with disabilities and children of military veterans.
“We also have assisted 2 124 youth to establish businesses and they all are now operating fully accredited businesses and a further 28 767 others are on various skills development programmes,” the MEC said.
As part of the Johannesburg Central Corridor, a total of 11 job centres have been established in Soweto. The centres are in Dube, Greater Eldorado Park, White City, Kliptown, Dobsonville, Ennerdale, Orlando East and Pimville.
“Each of these centres is managed by young people, who themselves were unemployed and were recruited through Tshepo 500 000,” MEC Mayathula-Khoza said.
Job seekers can walk in at any centre to upload their information or log on to www.tshepo500000.co.za or SMS their name and city or suburb to 45490 or dial *120*874376# and follow the instructions. – SAnews.gov.za
