DA to prioritise job creation in its election campaign

Paul Vecchiatto writes that the Democratic Alliance (DA) has placed job creation at the top of its priority list for the 2014 national elections.  It has also vowed to fight corruption and to support a wider social security net, but with the aim of getting unemployed people participating in the economy.  On Friday, the party released the policies that will underpin its election manifesto, to be made known in March.  They include job creation, the economy, economic inclusion (black economic empowerment or BEE), education, innovation, communications, housing, land reform, natural resources, agriculture, labour and health.  But, independent political analyst Daniel Silke commented that the DA was still struggling to define its economic equity policy.  With that debate still being controlled by the ruling ANC, it appears the DA has moved closer to mainstream thinking on empowerment.  Last year the DA got itself into an embarrassing muddle for first supporting and then withdrawing that support from the Employment Equity Bill as it made its way through Parliament.

• Read this article at BDLive
• Read too, 'DA to punt jobs in its election manifesto', on page 6 of Sunday Times of 12 January 2014