President Jacob Zuma will on Friday, 28 February 2014 visit a job creation project site, Granfield Chicken Farm Abattoir in Reitz in the Free State province as part of government efforts to create sustainable jobs in rural areas.

The project, co-funded by the Department of Labour through the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) and the Industrial Development Cooperation (IDC) to the tune of R130 million, is aimed at strengthening the capacity of the economy to grow and create decent jobs. It is also a successful model of a Public Private Partnership that not only increases the level of employment but also improves the quality of jobs.

Significantly, as part of the IDC/UIF funding, a 23 per cent stake in the business is owned by the employees.

The Granfield Chicken Abattoir slaughters over 160 000 chickens per day for domestic and international consumption and through this initiative 958 jobs have been created in the Reitz area alone. Along with the upstream businesses such as chickens houses, feed mill, equipment and medication, also has a meaningful job creation impact in the Free State province. It is also envisaged that the project will produce the equivalent of ca 20% of imports.

During his visit to Reitz, President Zuma will also interact with the Reitz community on the issues of job creation.

Source: South African Official News