President Cyril Ramaphosa says the rate of unemployment in the country keeps him awake at night.
Ramaphosa, who was speaking at Sun City in Rustenburg on Wednesday as the ANC prepares for its annual January 8 celebration, alluded to several socio-economic challenges that the country is faced with and how he would like issues to be addressed by the government.
“The issue of unemployment keeps all of us here on the stage awake. It especially keeps me awake at night in terms of trying to find solutions.
“On the way here, I was talking to the minister of finance [Enoch Godongwana]. [I said] minister, we need to mobilise more money so that we can create jobs for the young people of our country, so that we can find ways of creating jobs but also working with the private sector,” Ramaphosa said.
He also stated that the private sector is in control of 75% of the country’s economy.
“So we need to harness them, to mobilise them, to make sure that they work with us to create jobs. We are strengthening the public sector. We are strengthening Eskom and Transnet and making progress on an ongoing basis,” he said.
Ramaphosa’s concern about unemployment comes days after ANC national chairperson Gwede Mantashe sparked outrage with remarks suggesting that unemployed citizens are overly dependent on the government to provide jobs rather than actively seeking employment.
During the SABC interview, Mantashe said, “I am now over 70. I’ve never had a government look for a job for me. Today, because there is a progressive government, people expect that government to [must] give them jobs. They don’t look for jobs themselves, and that must change.”
Mantashe emphasised a need for a cultural shift: “You queue for a job, you look for the advert, and you apply in real terms. We must move away from being a ‘parcel society’ and become an active society.”
Many, such as former public protector and MK Party Mpumalanga convenor Busisiwe Mkhwebane, described the statements as “irresponsible”.
“Mantashe, if you knew how many applications unemployed graduates and those without qualifications submit, you would never utter such an irresponsible statement,” she said.
“Your family and those close to you are not exposed to the poverty and unemployment our families endure. You are so distant from reality, and it is sad.”