ANC plans to upscale production of artisans in SA post-COVID-19

JOHANNESBURG – The African National Congress (ANC) said it planned to upscale the production of artisans in the country as part of its economic recovery plan post-COVID-19.

The governing party launched a document on building a new inclusive economy on Friday as part of its efforts to restore the country’s dwindling economy which has been hit hard by the impact of the pandemic.

In the document, the ANC’s economic transformation committee pushes for investment in infrastructure as a way of restoring the struggling economy.

South Africa’s GDP is expected to contract by up to 7% this year, with the recession projected to haunt the economy for a while.

The ANC said given that the pandemic had had a profound impact on employment creation, focus should be directed at collaboration with the Sector Education and Training Authority, the private sector and TVET colleges to ensure the labour market was armed with the right skills.

The party added that COVID-19 was likely to further increase the high rate of unemployment, which now stood at over 30% meaning inequality and poverty would also deepen.

It believed that the creation of decent work remained a reliable tool to solve these challenges.

This, it said, could be addressed through job creation schemes, which worked in conjunction with the public works programme and by incentivising labour absorbing industrial programmes, especially through infrastructure development.

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