Zuma aims for more govt jobs

2008-11-11 21:53

Johannesburg - While creating more jobs through the public sector was one of the election manifesto proposals being deliberated by the ANC, it did not want to bloat the civil service, party president Jacob Zuma, said on Tuesday.

Addressing editors and political editors at a luncheon in Johannesburg, he said the party would be holding its national manifesto conference at the end of November.

In the build-up to the manifesto conference, economic transformation issues being raised included "the creation of decent work".

"(This) will be the primary focus of economic policies and all economic programmes must seek to create decent jobs to alleviate poverty."

Also, access to quality education and training to enable the unemployable to gain the needed skills, had to be improved.

Public service must remain effective

"Government should play a more active role in job creation, directly through the public service.

"We therefore envisage the expansion of public sector employment."

Asked if this meant more public sector jobs or more public works, Zuma said that while one of government's roles was creating employment in the civil service, this sector also needed to be effective.

"But there are public sectors where the government could invest more to create jobs, although we do not want to bloat the public sector."

On the question of a perceived lack of accountability in the public service, Zuma said "there is a feeling that things in government are taken easily. We need to change the culture of work. We should not have people who cannot perform. There must be a change, government must perform."

Another key aspect of manifesto planning involved the commitment to fight crime and to find a better balance between protecting human rights and dealing with criminals.

"We have noted concerns that in opening some aspects of the Criminal Procedure Act to debate, we may be creating a perception that we want to violate the constitution.

"This is not the case. We remain committed to every word in the constitution," Zuma said.

He added the ANC wanted to establish a new value system in the fight against crime. This would include shunning stolen goods and developing the habit of informing police when crimes were committed.

- SAPA