Roundtable: Presidential Employment Stimulus: how far does it go to address unemployment crisis?

The launch of the Presidential Employment Stimulus in South Africa’s Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan marks a fundamental shift in government's approach to tackling unemployment. As the president reminded us in his weekly missive last week the government is undertaking a far-reaching and ambitious public investment in human capital, with the state as both a creator and an enabler of jobs. The Presidential Employment Stimulus is unprecedented in its scale and breadth, involving a public investment of R100 billion over the next three years.But there has been some misunderstanding by commentators on how it will be funded and rolled out. Michael Avery speaks to one of the plan’s co-architects, Kate Philip, a development strategist supporting the project management office inside The Presidency; & Dr Tashmia Ismail-Saville, CEO of Youth Employment Services, about what makes this Presidential Employment Stimulus so unique.