The ANC, DA, EFF, IFP, UDM, ACDP and other smaller parties are to participate in the debate in Parliament.
Cape Town – Political parties are debating President Cyril Ramaphosa’s economic recovery plan that was tabled last week in Parliament following the outbreak of Covid-19 early this year leading to a jobs bloodbath and the contraction in the economy.
The ANC, DA, EFF, IFP, UDM, ACDP and other smaller parties are to take part in the debate in Parliament.
In his plan Ramaphosa said they would invest billions in infrastructure projects and create 800 000 jobs.
The government would also employ 300 000 assistant teachers to allow teachers to focus on their work after Covid-19 caused massive disruption in the schooling system.
The unions have, however, warned that assistant teachers not be used for teaching.
In another part of the plan Ramaphosa said they will fix Eskom and increase generation power capacity in the country.
The country has suffered loadshedding in the past few months with businesses complaining that lack of power supply and unreliable energy was affecting their businesses and operations.
Ramaphosa has also promised to fight corruption as various agencies continue to uncover malfeasance in state institutions.
But opposition parties have criticised the plan saying it lacked substance amid the growing levels of unemployment and poverty in the country.
The contraction of the economy by 16.4% in the second quarter has led to massive job losses.
Statistics South Africa has revealed that 2.2 million people lost their jobs during this period.
Parties said it would be very difficult for the government to reverse this situation because the economy was already in a crisis with 14m people unemployed.
The jobs crisis has been escalating for some time with companies slashing jobs.
The unions have also called for the private sector to invest more in the economy.
