Pretoria - South Africa's business sector was on Thursday urged to "come to the party" and join the government in creating jobs.
Briefing the media following cabinet's fortnightly meeting on Tuesday, government spokesperson
Jimmy Manyi said a date and venue would soon be announced for a meeting between President
Jacob Zuma, business leaders and others on the planned multi-billion rand infrastructure roll-out.
He said government "enables" the environment for the creation of jobs, but it was up to business to create them.
"Business, come to the party, create jobs," Manyi said.
On April 13, Zuma would open an intergovernmental forum - convened by the presidential infrastructure coordinating commission - to discuss implementation plans.
"Cabinet calls on all sectors, from business and civil society to individual South Africans, to play your part in partnering with government as investors and social partners."
This would "enhance" the infrastructure plans announced by Zuma last month in his state of the nation address.
"The office of the president will soon announce a date and venue where the president will meet stakeholders, and business in particular, to further engage on how working together can make the infrastructure roll-out a success," Manyi said.
In his February address, Zuma announced that the government had chosen "five major geographically-focused programmes" to develop, among others, rail, road, water, mineral beneficiation, ports and power infrastructure.
"The massive investment in infrastructure must leave more than just power stations, rail lines, dams and roads," he said at the time.
"It must industrialise the country, generate skills and boost much-needed job creation."