Cape Town - South Africa's new infrastructure development plan will
effectively tackle inequality, poverty and unemployment, ANC chief whip
Mathole Motshekga said on Tuesday.
Speaking in the National Assembly during debate on President Jacob
Zuma's state of the nation address, he said the drive to develop a
knowledge economy would enhance the efficiency of the infrastructure
development plan by producing the skills necessary for the government to
work harder, faster and smarter.
The infrastructure development plan, including its social infrastructure
project, would benefit the poorest of the poor and bring them into the
mainstream economy.
"In terms of this plan, government could renovate unutilised and
underutilised buildings in towns and townships and make them available
for skills development, cultural industries and cultural tourism," he
said.
This local economy development initiative could be strengthened by
government support for the development of marginalised and diminished
heritage, languages and indigenous knowledge systems to unlock the full
potential of historically disadvantaged communities.
The plan could also enable cultural industrialists and small businesses to gain access to the markets, Motshekga said.