Pretoria – The City of Tshwane has one of the lowest unemployment rates in South Africa, Mayor Kgosientso Ramokgopa said on Thursday.
“We have made significant progress to reduce the unemployment rate and our level of youth unemployment remains among the lowest in South Africa, some 17 percentage points less than the national average.
“Today, Tshwane has one of the lowest unemployment rates in South Africa, with the number of employed persons increasing by 52% during this decade, from just over 700 000 to almost 1.1 million,” Mayor Ramokgopa said.
Delivering the State of the City Address, he said the City’s employment levels were encouraging, given that 65% of Tshwane’s population is younger than 35 years.
The proportion of people who are not economically active remains at around 32% of the workforce, while Census 2011 figures indicate that approximately 3% of those who are not economically active are in fact discouraged work seekers.
However, in spite of these achievements, the mayor said the economy continued to face significant structural challenges.
Provision of services
Mayor Ramokgopa said over the next five years, Eskom will invest approximately R839 million in Tshwane to strengthen and refurbish projects that will provide additional capacity to the City to supply electricity.
He said under-serviced areas in Tshwane will be targeted in this regard.
A further significant contribution to improve the City’s power-generating capacity is the planned refurbishment of the City’s power stations at Rooiwal and Pretoria West.
“The impact of this massive bulk infrastructure investment will create job opportunities and ensure the expansion of services to all communities,” Mayor Ramokgopa said.
Almost 90% of households in Tshwane now have access to piped water.
“One of our key infrastructure service delivery programmes aimed at restoring dignity to our people is providing decent shelter and creating housing opportunities.
“Since 2000, we have been hard at work to secure title deeds for our people. We have provided 63 046 housing opportunities, positively impacting approximately 252 184 people,” he said.
According to the mayor, as the programme matures, the City will issue three different approved building plans along with title deeds, allowing communities to build their own homes within the regulatory framework.
With this programme, parks, street names, waste removal services and ultra-thin concrete roads will be provided. This will contribute to the building of liveable communities, as expressed in the City’s Vision 2055.
Natives’ Land Act
To mark the centenary of the Natives’ Land Act, the City donated portions of land to churches and businesses from previously disadvantaged communities.
“In contributing to the erosion of the legacy of apartheid and the Natives’ Land Act in particular, we have donated over 140 parcels of land valued at over R60 million to churches across the City.
“These churches are now free to invest in the construction or extension of their places of worship to properly serve their congregations and the surrounding community.
“The City is now considering applications from Regions 5 and 7, and these will be concluded soon,” he said.
Progress made since 1994
In the last 20 years, the City has made strides in providing communities with housing, better roads and storm water drainage systems as well as additional transport infrastructure to reverse the spatial distortions due to the legacy of apartheid and colonialism.
“Since 2007, we have upgraded gravel roads in former disadvantaged communities amounting to a capital investment of over R2.6 billion and storm water drainage amounting to R1.2 billion,” he said. - SAnews.gov.za
