Call for Africa to create decent jobs

He was addressing delegates attending the opening of the International Labour Organisation's 12th Africa regional meeting. According to Fin24, Zuma believes that the most effective weapon against poverty is the creation of decent work opportunities.

The theme of this year's conference is "Empowering People Through Decent Work".

A report compiled by the United Nations Development Programme last year indicated that Africa would need to create about 100-million productive jobs in order to reduce the number of poor people spread throughout the continent.

Zuma says that Africa must work together to extricate itself from "the painful legacy of slavery, neo-colonialism and forced labour". He warned that economic growth alone was not sufficient to empower Africans through providing new jobs.

He says complementary initiatives, such as supporting the informal sector and providing bridging programmes between the formal and informal sectors were fundamental to the creation of decent jobs.

He reiterated that South Africa is aiming to create five million jobs in the next ten years.

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