Johannesburg - The jobs crisis in Gauteng has reached boiling point, with hundreds of people flocking to government offices on Eloff Street in the Johannesburg CBD looking for work.
Most of those who had been standing outside with their CVs in hand were those who hoped to be employed in one of the premier’s job-creating initiatives.
The most recent one is the Green Army Environment Project. This particular project was meant to employ 6000 people from all over Gauteng, providing them with one-year contracts to clean the CBDs of the province and promote clean environments in communities.
The Star understands that the project was launched on Sunday in Soweto. This prompted droves of people to rush to the offices of the Department of Agriculture, Land, and Rural Development, demanding to be part of the project. Some had been there as early as 5am on Monday morning, hoping that their CVs would be taken.
Hlengiwe Dladla, 45, one of the people who had been part of the jobless looking for work, told The Star that she had been told that if she was early enough, her CV would be taken.
‘’When I got there at 7am, there were already people there; we were all demanding that they take us, but they sent us home and told us that they would deal with those who had already applied online,’’ she said.
When The Star visited the department’s offices yesterday (Wed), there were still droves of people who were hoping to be employed.
Gauteng currently has 582 000 discouraged job seekers, while unemployment currently stands at 2 604 000.
This information was revealed in the Quarterly Labour Force Survey that was released by Statistics South Africa for the first quarter of 2023.
The current load shedding crisis in the country has further impacted this, as many businesses have threatened to retrench while the smaller ones collapse due to power outages.
Recently, the MEC for Economic Development, Tasneem Motara, revealed that over 300 000 job opportunities have been lost during 2022 due to the continuous rolling blackouts.
‘’If they also do not give us jobs, we will make sure that no one works on this project. They cannot employ people because they are ANC members,’’ said a man who asked not to be named.
There seemed to be some sort of mistrust between the provincial government and those looking for work. Some claimed that the government was still hiring and that people were still being called to the offices of the Agriculture Department.
But the Department of Agriculture, Land, and Rural Development told The Star that people had been hired already. The department said around 70 000 applications were received, and it filtered down to 7000 who were taken.
‘’The Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development notes the misunderstanding following the launch and wishes to inform Gauteng residents that the 6000 EPWP Green Army have already been employed,’’ the department said in a statement.
According to the department, the Green Army has commenced cleaning the environment, planting trees, and establishing food gardens in townships, informal settlements, and hostels across the province.
‘’The job advertisement for the Greening Expanded Public Works Programme opened on January 31, 2023, and closed on February 27, 2023. As such, the department is no longer taking applications for the programme,’’ the provincial government said.
The DA’s Nicola Du Plessis said the work crisis in Gauteng has reached serious levels and called for greater government intervention.
‘’If the provincial government under the leadership of Premier Lesufi is serious about creating the correct environment for investment, they would ensure that all job targets are met and that all entities meant to assist small businesses fulfil their mandate,’’ she said.
The Star