IFP pledges to 'make work'

2004-03-20 21:41

Johannesburg - The Inkatha Freedom Party on Saturday launched its Job Creation Pledge - one of its five "common-sense" proposals - each of which addresses key issues in its election campaign.

Spokesperson Musa Zondi said it was the third such pledge to have been launched.

The five election issues in focus are HIV/Aids, poverty, unemployment, corruption and crime.

"Job creation is the number one priority of the Inkatha Freedom Party. We will provide jobs for South Africans now. We will shift the focus away from ideologies and theories of employment into action and jobs.

Unemployment is one of the major causes of crime and is a drain on the resources of the nation. It also traps millions of our people in a cycle of poverty and despair," said Musa.

He said the party pledged to:

Promote investments in order to create jobs immediately;

Ensure a free market economy;

Establish the necessary infrastructure and economic environment to allow industry and commerce to flourish;

Promote Small Business as the engines of employment growth;

Ensure the participation of disadvantaged people in the active economy is not limited to a selected few; and

Implement programmes that will significantly reduce levels of unemployment, which include small business development, agricultural co-operative arrangements, cash-crops for export and public works programmes.

- SAPA