Employment and Labour Minister Thulas Nxesi says it is important for the country to start preparing for job creation post COVID-19.
Nxesi gave a briefing on his department’s budget vote and annual performance plan for the 2020/21 financial year to a number of committees among them Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Employment and Labour in a virtual meeting on Thursday.
Nxesi says whilst the immediate priority is to combat the coronavirus, citizens cannot ignore the future after the pandemic.
He says, “Let us use this opportunity to prepare for the post COVID-19 future, which takes us beyond the immediate challenges to start imagining a better world, where we defeat corruption, unemployment, and poverty. We dare not lose hope.”
Job losses
The National Treasury says five million jobs could be lost during the COVID-19 national lockdown.
It estimates that approximately 1/3 of the resources that were productive in February 2020, are now at a standstill due to the lockdown.
Treasury officials briefed various parliamentary finance committees on the impact of COVID-19 on the country’s economy.
