As youth unemployment remains high in South Africa, the KwaZulu-Natal provincial government has been working to reduce youth unemployment rates in its province by launching a strategic partnership with the eLan Foundation’s Shift Africa Project.
This partnership will bring about a large training and skills development project which will be a gateway to occupationally directed skills development for young people.
The eLan Property Group’s R16 billion Blythedale Coastal Estate Resort development will present these employment opportunities.
At the partnership launch, KwaZulu-Natal Premier, Sihle Zikalala said that the Blythedale Coastal Estate Resort is a project that will attract international investors. This project is also set to be the biggest resort in Southern Africa and result in the employment of more than 100 000 people during the construction phase.
Zikalala said that the Shift Africa Project will be striving towards economic growth, redistribution and creation of jobs.
He stated the reason for working with the eLan Foundation saying:
We are launching this project, Shift Africa, where the eLan Foundation and eLan Group, which is a property investment group, have partnered with government, especially the Department of Social Development, to train young people and ensure that they are employed in the property development of the project, which will be implemented in the Ilembe District.
Zikalala says this project will help the province to reduce unemployment and provide skills training for youth and women.
The eLan Group will be giving the employment opportunities to young people who have been trained by the Department of Social Development, some of these who have been trained are ex-offenders.
“No one must be condemned, and there is a need to rehabilitate ex-offenders. It is important to give them a second chance in life. The ex-offenders, who have been trained, will also be given an opportunity to work in the Blythedale Project and make a meaningful contribution to the growth of our economy,” Zikalala said.
20 000 of the trained individuals will be placed in permanent jobs and around 4 000 Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) will receive business opportunities.
The project also aims to develop Green Economy programmes and social enterprises which could create new businesses from existing ones.
