Govt bosses get jobs targets

Cape Town - Political and administrative heads of state departments at all levels of government, including government institutions, will in future be contractually measured in terms of achieving government's job-creation targets.

This is one of the new features of the second phase of government's expanded public works progamme (EPWP) which shifts into higher gear this year.

During a working session on the programme, Public Works Minister Geoff Doidge said that although President Jacob Zuma’s target of creating 500 000 temporary job opportunities by December last year had been a “nightmare target”, 603 959 positions had been created in April at the beginning of the new financial year.

This programme has so far largely been financed by national, provincial and local governments’ existing budgets without dipping into the R4.1bn National Treasury last year allocated to incentivise job creation.

Doidge admits that the employment of this fund requires fine-tuning, and this year local authorities in particular will be targeted. In terms of the incentive, R50 is paid for each full day of labour-intensive work created in the public sector.

But it is only a contribution to the daily wage.

Last year the provincial Department of Transport in KwaZulu-Natal excelled by being able to add some R83m to its budget, thanks to its application of financial incentives.

- Sake24.com

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