The Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development only managed to create 188 out of the targeted 675 work opportunities for the first quarter of the 2019/2020 financial year.
This was revealed in the department’s first quarterly report for the 2019/2020 financial year. These jobs were supposed to be created through the Tshepo 1 Million programme.
According to the report, the target set was based on the previous financial year’s plans of executing the Tshepo 1 Million programme through a tender process. But this was subsequently cancelled due to the shifting of funds later in the financial year.
This meant that no budget was set aside for the creation of sustainable job opportunities for youth, women, persons with disabilities and beneficiaries of military veterans.
This programme is critical as it plays an important role in contributing towards economic transformation in the province.
The department will now be integrating this programme with the BKB and green jobs programmes as no separate budget has been allocated for the Tshepo 1 Million programme for this year.
I will be closely monitoring this project to ensure that the department does indeed meet all the targets set in terms of job creation.