Chairperson, Minister Davies and Deputy Ministers Thabethe and Tobias-Pokolo, MECs Jonas, Mahlangu, Winde and Mokoena, the chairperson of the Select Committee on Economic Development, the hon Freddie Adams, and hon members, it's my pleasure to be part of this policy debate today.
Eighteen months ago government adopted the New Growth Path as the framework for our economic policies. It places employment and decent work at the centre of our efforts to rebuild productive sectors of our economy. It identifies the means by which we will move away from an unsustainable, consumption-led growth trajectory.
Today I will reflect, through a provincial lens, on the Department of Economic Development, DED, and the work that we do with development finance institutions and economic regulatory bodies. I hope to complement the excellent industrial overview given by my colleague, Minister Davies.
First, let us look at the state of the labour market. Statistics SA recently released its first-quarter results for 2012 in the Quarterly Labour Force Survey, a comprehensive report of labour market trends. The value of the survey is precisely the annual trends to date, updated every three months, undistorted by seasonal factors that show up in quarter-to- quarter figures. So, what does it show? Over the last 12 months, 305 000 net new jobs were created. We have now experienced five quarters of year-on- year job growth. In October 2010, when the New Growth Path was adopted, total employment was 12,9 million South Africans. By 31 March this year, it was 13,4 million South Africans. So, 447 000 new jobs have been created in the past 18 months, compared to a loss of 660 000 jobs in the 18 months prior to October 2010. A total of 53 000 new jobs have been created in agriculture in the past 12 months - a growth of almost 9%.
On the downside, manufacturing and construction lost a large number of jobs over the last year. A total of 81 000 manufacturing jobs were lost, partly as a result of contracted demand in the eurozone. Manufacturing is a critical driver of long-term economic welfare and we should therefore be concerned about this trend. It will be crucial to increase local and regional demand for these key sectors to offset the global downward trends.
I now turn briefly to provincial performance on jobs. Six provinces saw job growth over the past 12 months, while three had job losses. In the top spot in growing jobs was Gauteng with 141 000 new jobs, followed by KwaZulu- Natal in second place with 90 000 new jobs and, in third place, the Western Cape with 63 000 new jobs. Gauteng's job performance was excellent, accounting for 46% of all new jobs created nationally, which is almost one in every two new jobs created, and double the rate of the Western Cape. The provinces with the largest job losses in the past year were the Eastern Cape and the Free State, both with quite significant employment losses.
Let me return to the work of the DED. What do we seek to do? Our work is primarily about integrating efforts across government with those of public agencies and social partners - which include business, labour and communities - towards better economic outcomes. Today, I wish to share with hon members how we bridge the gap and co-ordinate the effort at the provincial level by giving you a snapshot of the work that we do, working closely with sister departments like the DTI and agencies such as the Industrial Development Corporation and International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa, Itac, how we leverage our policy instruments to facilitate high-impact opportunities; and, most importantly, how we promote structural change and efficiency gains towards our vision of a vibrant, competitive and inclusive economy.
In 2011 customs data revealed that South Africa imported 330 000 tons of chicken a year. This is 400% more than we imported a decade ago. In the Free State, the IDC is now partnering with the Vrystaat Koperasie Beperk to finance development of the fifth largest chicken broiler co-operative in the country. An amount of R80 million of loan finance under the Unemployment Insurance Fund scheme and black economic empowerment finance will ensure that this 2 200-member co-op will boost the Free State agribusiness sector, creating 1 328 jobs in the first phase and progressively replacing 40% of national poultry imports.
With the support of provisional antidumping protection through Itac, announced on 13 February 2012, we are looking to repatriate many of the 7 800 local jobs currently being exported to the poultry industries in Brazil, Argentina and the European Union. So, in this example, we identified a problem from the trade data and we responded to that problem with an investment strategy.
In KwaZulu-Natal we have seen an example of success with a component of the green economy, namely solar water heating installations. The DED collaborated with the IDC on industrial funding, with Itac on a tariff investigation, with the DTI on localisation, with the Department of Public Enterprises on Eskom's role, with the Department of Energy on policy issues, with the SA Bureau of Standards on approval of an 8 000-unit factory, and with National Treasury on the establishment of a R4,7 billion, three-year funding mechanism. Bring together all these different elements and what is the result? More than 262 000 solar water heaters have now been installed countrywide, of which about 51 000 are in KwaZulu-Natal.
Government is focused on creating jobs and boosting industrial development by unlocking the mineral wealth in the Kalahari basin of the Northern Cape. In February this year, President Zuma announced the National Infrastructure Plan, containing details of rail capacity improvements in order to transport manganese from the Northern Cape, with an IDC-backed manganese sinter plant in the province, to a ferromanganese alloy smelter and manganese terminal in the port of Coega in the Eastern Cape. Looking forward, we must consider the further beneficiation of manganese as an input in local steel manufacturing for local, regional and international markets.
In Bronkhorstspruit, Gauteng, we are ensuring rural economic development and job creation through a focus on import replacement and enhancing the agriculture value chain. The IDC-funded RussellStone soybean crushing plant will be the first commercial-scale facility of its kind in the country. It will replace 240 000 tons of imported soya cake every year, creating 48 permanent jobs and the potential for a further 1 040 agricultural jobs.
Hon members, you may not have heard of Vektronix in the Eastern Cape, but it is an example of our work in integrating investment within the framework of Ipap 2, the manufacturing driver of the New Growth Path. Minister Davies is leading our work on Ipap 2. Established in 1974, this East London-based company was the first television manufacturing plant established in South Africa. It remains one of the most flexible, cost-effective consumer electronics contract manufacturers in the country. Since 2009 Vektronix has had a revolving R123 million credit facility with the IDC, which has allowed the company to gear up capacity for contract assembly of a range of Samsung flat-panel models. Local company Tubular Technical Construction Projects in Mpumalanga is an example of the integration of industrial and infrastructure development to promote localisation and job creation by leveraging off the infrastructure plan. Funding will now enable the company to execute a contract for the supply, fabrication and erection of an air-cooled condenser system for Eskom's Kusile Power Station. A total of 687 new jobs will be created - an example of localisation spurred by the infrastructure plan. Localisation will be deepened by our partnership with Proudly South Africa in the running of a "Buy Local" campaign.
In the North West, we can see integration across rural development and the mining value chain for effective outcomes of broad-based black economic empowerment and job creation. The African Queen Newco project will allow the mining of a continuous platinum ore body as a mega mine, placing the project among the top five platinum producers in South Africa. The local community will own 27% of the consolidated mine. A total of 9 000 jobs will be created in full production and during the construction phase.
In Limpopo, a major infrastructure programme, announced through the Presidential Infrastructure Co-ordinating Commission, PICC will unlock vast quantities of chromium, coal, platinum and palladium and stimulate the emergence of South Africa's first postapartheid city, in the Waterberg area. Transnet's investment in rail and the laying of water pipelines by the Department of Water Affairs, together with Eskom's energy-generation and transmission infrastructure and the IDC's industrial investment, will unlock industrial development in the northern mineral belt. It also holds opportunities to expand African development through infrastructure and links with neighbouring countries.
Finally, the Western Cape demonstrates the growing innovation in our support to small, medium and micro enterprises as a means of securing equity for communities in the economy. Last year, the Khula project approved R63 million for land reform beneficiaries to plant vineyards and citrus orchards in the Citrusdal community. These two projects will create employment and ownership opportunities for about 565 workers.
This year, Khula, the SA Micro-Finance Apex Fund and the IDC's small business lending book were amalgamated into a single agency, the Small Enterprise Finance Agency, Sefa. Through operational efficiencies and leveraging a R2 billion funding envelope over the next three years, Sefa will enhance funding support to small business at provincial level. This will be done through initiatives such as the roll-out of a direct lending facility, which we piloted in Cape Town last year. It complements the activities of the Small Enterprise Development Agency, which provides technical and other support to small businesses. Tomorrow we will share details of this with MECs at the Minmec meeting.
The sustainability of our SMME interventions doesn't rest on finance alone. It also requires operational support and enhancing the ease of doing business. We have an agreement with the SA Institute of Chartered Accountants to train 100 accountants to provide support to small businesses. This year, the DED will roll out employment impact capacity- building workshops in the nine provinces. This will enable provincial departments to understand factors driving employment creation and how they can use their policies, regulations, programmes and activities to collectively intensify employment creation. We will provide further capacity-building support to provinces, including deepening the training on economic development and planning for officials. Last year, we sponsored a training course at Wits University for 90 provincial public sector officials. A total of 100 officials from nine municipalities will be trained this year.
More broadly, government has announced a bold infrastructure plan to shape economic and social development. As the location of the PICC's secretariat, the DED provides technical and co-ordination services to support the planning and preparation of 17 strategic integrated projects. The PICC integrates the plans, budgets and investment pipelines of national, provincial and local government, as well as state-owned enterprises and government agencies.
As demonstrated with the IDC, we are realigning our development finance institutions for greater operational efficiency and to support New Growth Path outcomes. Over the last year, the IDC saw a significant increase in its approvals, totalling R13,5 billion in finance approved, with an 18% increase in deal flow. The turnaround time for processing applications has now been reduced from 82 to 50 days.
Similarly, Itac follows a developmental approach to trade policy and tariff setting to boost competitiveness, support industrialisation and promote jobs. Last year, Itac improved its turnaround time for roughly 20 000 permits issued annually to three days.
I would like to conclude with the words of Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen: "Freedoms are not only the primary ends of development, they are also among its principal means." These words describe government's work over the last year and the road ahead in the fostering of a dynamic, just and competitive South African economy, an economy growing on the energy of our citizens who are enabled to exercise their economic freedom. There is no silver bullet to get us on our new trajectory. Our primary mandate of co-ordination requires managing efforts and smart policy implementation. It requires tactical initiatives with multiplier impact, which will ensure the structural shifts and efficiency gains we need to build a dynamic and inclusive economy. Most of all, it requires perseverance and a focus on quality outcomes. [Applause.]