by Caroline Copley
President Jacob Zuma says South Africa's public works programme will continue after the World Cup to try to build on infrastructure projects and boost employment.
Zuma said on Thursday the government had put aside more than R800 billion to invest in infrastructure after the tournament finished.
"We have put a lot of money so it will move from there forward, so there is no decline," Zuma said.
South Africa has invested billions getting ready for the continent's first World Cup, kicking off on June 11, but hopes to recoup that and more through investment and tourism in years to come.
Spending on infrastructure is expected to contribute 0.5 percent to GDP in 2010 and Zuma said the preparations had furnished workers with new skills.
But the country's official jobless rate climbed to almost 25 percent by the end of 2009 and remains a critical challenge for the government and a stumbling block for the economy as a whole.
South Africa emerged from its first recession in 17 years in the third quarter of 2009.
Zuma also said the ANC had made considerable efforts to overhaul the system of government to weed out corruption.
"What we have tried to do is to expose everything and create a way that ordinary citizens can reach government and say what is happening. And therefore work out a method to deal with those matters," he said.
Earlier this week Zuma ordered an external audit following persistent reports of mismanagement and political meddling.
The government has set up a ministerial committee to deal with corruption and launched a telephone hotline that encourages ordinary South Africans to report inefficiency and corruption at any level of government.
"We now have a very clear idea of the problems. If the hotline was not there it would be much more vague. People are talking," he said.
"We are gearing the machinery and we are working on shortening the distance between the discovery of corrupt people and actions taken," he said. - Reuters