KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Economic Development and Tourism Michael Mabuyakhulu has called on all the stakeholders in the province to come together to come up with a workable plan to mitigate the impact of the recession. Minister Mabuyakhulu said the figures released by the Statistics South Africa recently have shown that KwaZulu-Natal had been hardest hit by the recession, with a total number of 117 000 jobs having been lost in the first quarter of 2009. Minister Mabuyakhulu was commenting in the wake of reports last week which showed that the economy in the country had skidded into a recession by 6,4%.
He said according to figures released by Statistics South Africa during the first quarter of 2009, South Africa's unemployment rate increased by 1,6% from 21,9% in the fourth quarter of 2008 to 23,5%. He also said the figures showed that a total number of 208 000 jobs were lost in South Africa between the two quarters, with most job losses recorded within the trade sector which accounted for 143 000 of the job losses, followed by construction (65 000) and manufacturing (62 000).
"When one looks at the statistics of jobs losses in terms of province per province, they show that KwaZulu-Natal had been hardest hit, with a total number of 117 000 jobs having been lost in the province followed by Gauteng (49 000) and Eastern Cape (47 000). In KwaZulu-Natal the trade sector registered the highest number of job cuts of 79 000 followed by agriculture (29 000)," he said.
Minister Mabuyakhulu added: "As the Department of Economic Development and
Tourism, we are busy developing a number of strategies to deal with the impact of the recession as figures show that KwaZulu-Natal had bore the brunt of this economic decline.
"Top on our list of priorities, is to ensure that we save a number of jobs which are already at risk. What we all need to note is that a breadwinner in the province supports and average of five to ten family members. This means that per each and every job that is lost about ten family members will not have anyone to support them.
"This has a huge ripple effect in the economy of the province. As part of the basket of measures to palliate the impact of the recession, we are looking at convening an indaba which will be attended by all stakeholders in the province, including business and labour, to come up with a comprehensive road-map to deal with this economic challenge.
"Very soon we will be presenting this idea before the provincial cabinet in order to get a cabinet input and guardian in terms of how this indaba should be approached and what outcome the province should expect from this interaction," he said.
For more information please contact:
Bheko Madlala
Cell: 082 808 1984
Issued by: Department of Economic Development and Tourism, KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government
19 June 2009
Source: Department of Economic Development and Tourism, KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government (http://www.kznded.gov.za)
