In the Western Cape, Premier Alan Winde is advocating a shift in approach towards economic development. He has emphasised the importance of building the economy and generating employment opportunities rather than relying solely on increasing grants.Winde has introduced the Cape’s Growth for Jobs (G4J) strategy, aiming to propel the local economy to reach the milestone of a R1-trillion economy. Projections suggest that with this strategy in place, the Western Cape could achieve annual economic growth rates of between 4% and 6%, effectively meeting the growing demands of its population.“In the Western Cape, everything we do is about creating jobs. It is this government’s obsession to keep building an enabling jobs ecosystem, where we are empowering the private sector to create as many jobs as possible,” Winde said recently.Between the second quarter of 2022 and the second quarter of 2023, the Western Cape’s official unemployment rate decreased by 6.6% to 20.9%. This is the lowest unemployment rate in the country and substantially lower than any other province, according to Winde, who said the province accounted for some two-thirds of all jobs created in South Africa.“Of the 169 000 jobs created in the country in the fourth quarter of the 2022/23 financial year, 167 000 of them were created here in the Western Cape,” said Winde.And it’s not just about creating jobs, it’s also about improving trade. “As a government, we must make it as easy as possible for businesses of all kinds to start up, work and grow in our province.”With this in mind, the Western Cape appointed a Red Tape Reduction unit aimed at tearing up bureaucratic red tape. Over the past five years, the unit has helped save the economy R2.4 billion.Agriculture remained a top priority for the province and efforts to grow the sector were ongoing, he said.“The sector is one of our most important economic drivers and accounts for more than half of the entire country’s agricultural exports. Growth in agricultural exports has the potential to create another 20 000 jobs and generate an additional R22 billion.”He said that in order to achieve this, the Port of Cape Town would have to function at optimum levels. The crisis seen at the port late last year and earlier this year destroyed investments.Winde said his provincial government would continue to push for more private sector involvement and more control of the port.In May 2023, in partnership with various stakeholders, the provincial government launched a Port Dashboard to optimise operations at the Port of Cape Town. It measures indicators such as truck and vessel turnaround times, vessel time at anchorage and at berth, the average size of vessels calling as well as weather conditions.“In discussion with the current port authorities, government and the private sector, we set targets to improve our competitiveness, and these are ref lected in the dashboard. But sadly, none of these targets agreed with the port are being met,” said Winde during his recent State of the Province address. “Through an effective port we can get our products to market, and this will not only create thousands of agri-job opportunities but also open even more agricultural farming opportunities.”
