South Africa’s Presidential Employment Stimulus (PES) has reached a milestone of one million participants since its inception less than two years ago and the results of its work programmes “are something to write home about,” President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Monday.
Given that lack of work experience was a major barrier to finding work for the country’s youth, these work programmes had provided high-quality work experience for the young people, the president said in his weekly newsletter to the nation.
He said the PES had “unlocked energy, commitment, creativity, innovation and opportunities.”
“Over one million people have benefited directly. Many more people in the families and communities of participants have felt the impact of the stimulus,” Ramaphosa said.
In the largest work programme supported by the stimulus, for example, nearly 600,000 young people were placed as school assistants in over 22,000 schools nationwide, Ramaphosa said.
School managers, teachers and other stakeholders agreed that the contribution of the school assistants had improved the learning environment in schools, the president said.
Many self-employed people found their livelihoods disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, especially the creative sector.
“In this sector, financial support was provided to people to create jobs for themselves and others,” Ramaphosa said.
He added: “The movies, music and plays produced are now able to generate further income from the sale of rights, tickets and royalties.”
The South African leader called on the private sector to hire young people with newly-acquired work experience as they leave PES work programmes.
NM/jn/APA