DA Leader in the province, Patricia Kopane, will host a briefing to launch the party’s jobs advert which will be screened at the Bram Fischer Building in Bloemfontein at 11:00 in the morning. This as Finance MEC, Elzabe Rockman, revealed in her budget speech, in early March, the province’s youth unemployment rate hovers above 50% mimicking recently-released national figures. Rockman further revealed the province’s total unemployment rate at, the end of 2018, came in at 32, 9% which is higher than the 27, 1% recorded nationally for the fourth quarter in 2018. The provincial government is concerned not only about the Free State’s economic outlook, but also the rising number of people living in abject poverty in the province. The Free State's economic growth for the 2019/20 financial year is projected to come in at 0,9%.

Rockman acknowledged the projected economic recovery is not enough to address the socio-economic challenges gripping the Free State at the moment. As a result her department, with the contribution of entities and departments, have drawn up a recovery and stimulus plan for the province. The plan includes the Maluti-A-Phofung Special Economic Zone and the revitilisation of the Phuthaditjhaba and Botshabelo industrial parks which were highlighted by President Cyril Ramaphosa in his State of the Nation Address on February 7. Free State Premier, Sisi Ntombela, announced that the parks have created roughly 900 jobs in her State of the Province Address (SOPA) contrary to the views of the DA on the matter.

The modest towns of Botshabelo, located over 60 kms outside the Free State capital, Bloemfontein and Phuthaditjhaba, in Qwaqwa, were named out of 16 industrial parks countrywide that have undergone revitalisation to stimulate economic growth. The president said the towns have become productive again after being idle for so long. These townships and rural areas join Garankuwa, Isithebe, Komani and Seshego, among others, on the list. Ntombela further announced during her SOPA, at the University of the Free State’s South Campus, that these areas are set to undergo the next phases of revitalisation with potential for more employment.

Democratic Alliance Leader in the province, Patricia Kopane, has been critical of the revitalisation of the industrial parks previously alleging that the areas continue to be ravaged by a high unemployment rate and a lack of infrastructure. Kopane further criticised the lack of development in the areas surrounding the selected industrial parks.

OFM News