Unemployed graduates in the Xhariep district will be trained as artisans for employment by municipalities and the Free State government, to work at economic development projects. The premier, Mxolisi Dukwana, stated this in response to a flood of grave concerns that scores of Xhariep residents raised during a social compact imbizo held on Friday in Koffiefontein.
Through this, the provincial government leadership engages with citizens to raise issues affecting them and which they want addressed promptly. This was the second leg of the imbizo, with the first held in Bothaville on 6 October.
Poverty-stricken residents lamented the lack of opportunities to rebuild their livelihoods, blaming the government’s slow pace to implement projects and lack of monitoring and evaluation of such. They reference the government inability to prevent the collapse of projects, resulted in the failure to curb the high unemployment rate.
Addressing the multitudes that packed the Diamanthoogte Combined School hall, Dukwana said the basic skills training form the backbone of successful implementation and sustainable economic development. He said prospective job-creating projects range from hemp production and processing to construction of a state-of-art solar energy plant, and agro-processing.
According to Dukwana, roughly 2 000 people will be employed permanently, while other job opportunities will be short-term during the construction of the planned projects.
“The time to rebuild our lives and start leading by example is now. The time for begging has long passed. During this self-reflection process, we must be clear on what we want, and work to achieve what we aspire to. We have become passive recipients due to the environment created to neglect our living spaces. A change of mindset to discourage this mentality of neglect is key to meaningful change,” he said.
Dukwana has referred to a lack of pride and dishonesty to several tenderpreneur contractors that vanished and left trails of incomplete projects after government made payments.
According to data by the Department of Cooperative Governance, the Xhariep economy is driven by the tertiary sector, with the community services sector the highest, contributing 31,9%, trade 13,5%, and transport and finance both at 9,1%.
