Jobs: DA accused of misleading voters

THE DA has been accused of making misleading statements about the number of jobs created in the Western Cape during its election campaign.

Fact checking organisation Africa Check released information over the weekend after looking into the party’s manifesto.

Africa Check said: “When the party released its manifesto, more recent data was available. Stats SA released figures for the fourth quarter of 2018 on February 12 this year.

This more recent data shows that 358 000 jobs were created in South Africa between the fourth quarter of 2017 and the fourth quarter of 2018. But only 29 000 of these jobs were created in the Western Cape. This is 8.1% of all jobs created in the last year, significantly lower than the 50% claimed by the DA.”

According to the latest information, the DA-run Western Cape government has not been successful in producing a high number of jobs; rather it has been ANC-governed provinces that have been successful in job creation – Gauteng has created 48% of new jobs, followed by KwaZulu-Natal with 37.7%, Limpopo with 16.5% and then the Western Cape with only 8.1% of new jobs in 2018.

ANC Western Cape election head Ebrahim Rasool said: “We have been trying to point out in numerous debates with DA people that this was wrong and they have constantly persisted in spinning this line that the DA has created 50% of the new jobs in South Africa. The Minister of Economic Development pointed out that their stats were wrong. I would say this was a deliberate decision by the DA to lie to the electorate.

“It’s a serious offence and we will be calling on the IEC to investigate the matter. The DA is a deceitful party and they should be punished for their actions,” Rasool said.

But it’s not the first time the issue of the DA making misleading claims about job creation in the province has arisen.

It was Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel who first corrected the DA after President Cyril Ramaphosa delivered his State of the Nation address in February.

Patel said that while out campaigning for the ANC in the Western Cape he could see the dire need for jobs in the province.

DA Premier Candidate Alan Winde said: “The Western Cape is an Agriculture and Tourism province. It’s utter rubbish what the ANC is saying and we don’t mislead the public, we give them only the facts.”