Despite the unemployment rate that is causing sleepless nights, particularly because it affects women and children, North West acting Premier Nono Maloyi said there were encouraging signs of recovery in job creation and economic growth.
"While our province is endowed with vast mineral deposits, we continue to be inundated by high levels of poverty and unemployment. Economic growth remains sluggish, and this has hurt our efforts to create jobs for our people," he said.
Maloyi was addressing the sixth administration's final State of the Province Address (SOPA) at the provincial legislature in Mahikeng on Tuesday.
He was sworn in to act in this position after Premier Bushy Maape continued to take precautions related to his surgery.
He hailed his province for creating about 69,528 EPWP work opportunities between 2019 and October 2023, benefiting women, youth, and people with disabilities. In 2024 alone, he added, an additional 15,000 jobs were created, translating to 84,528.
Maloyi said the North West was one of only three provinces that recorded the largest employment increase in the third quarter of 2023, creating over 61,000 jobs.
According to the acting premier, they had hosted two important investment promotion engagements with major investors: the North-West BRICS Investment Conference, which was held during the BRICS Summit in August 2023 in Sandton, and the Premier’s Dinner with Investors, held in September 2023 at Sun City to curb the issue of unemployment.
He stated that both initiatives yielded 34 investment pledges with a total value of over R104.1 billion.
With confidence, he said to date, there were 14 confirmed investment projects to the tune of R13.5 billion, which were in the pipeline for the Bojanala Special Economic Zone.
According to Maloyi, these investments will further create an additional 10,000 jobs.
In addition to his speech, he said the province's tourism industry has risen from the ashes of the Covid-19 pandemic, emphasizing that this has generated R6.9 billion in revenue for the province, thereby creating and preserving 24,000 jobs.
"Bagaetsho, the implementation of the Tourism Recovery Plan by our province has begun to realize growth in the number of both domestic and international visitors," he said.
Maloyi has appealed to the public to respect the privacy of Maape.
"We wish to caution and plead with the public and parties represented in this legislature to appreciate the balance between the complexity of holding the Premier accountable and respecting his human dignity and privacy of his health information," he cautioned the public.
kamogelo.moichela@inl.co.za
IOL Politics