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Cape Town - The National Treasury on Tuesday slated as a
distortion of facts a report in Business Day, which claimed the government's
Jobs Fund had spent R3bn since its launch last year to create 745 jobs - a cost
of R4m a job.
The Treasury said in a statement the Jobs Fund had since
launch approved 54 projects, “meaning proposals that have met the criteria to
secure funding totalling R3bn”.
"Of those 54 projects, 27 have signed agreements for
funding of more than R1bn.
"These initiatives will create over 65 000 new
permanent jobs in South Africa by 2015 and place 42 000 unemployed people in
existing vacancies," the Treasury said.
The Jobs Fund was first announced by President Jacob Zuma in
his 2011 State of the Nation Address and launched by Finance Minister Pravin
Gordhan in June 2011.
The R9bn Fund is managed by the Development Bank of Southern Africa and "aims to find innovative solutions to our employment problem by finding new ways of doing business that create new, permanent jobs in South Africa".
