MKHULEKO HLENGWA MP
IFP Youth Brigade National Chairperson
Hon Speaker,
Hon Members,
Our future, freedom, dignity and democracy depend on our ability to work. It is imperative that we get South Africa working.
Once again we are called upon to reflect upon the general state of our economy and, in particular, the rate of our youth unemployment which now sits at 70%, thus, we are confronted with the question of “How Did We Get Here?”
The 2008 economic meltdown cannot be fully blamed for the crisis in which we find ourselves in today.
We are in this mess today because of the inconsistent and incoherent economic policy direction which the ANC has pursued since 1994.
It was not the economic meltdown that derailed Gear, RDP or Asgisa; it was the ANC at the behest of its Alliance Masters.
It was not the economic meltdown that reneged on the Youth Wage Subsidy, but it was the ANC at the behest of its Alliance Masters.
It is not the economic meltdown that is derailing the National Development Plan but rather it is the ANC once more at the behest of its Alliance Masters.
This begs the question: “Who is actually running this country?” The ANC has become a shadow of its former self, and has ceded its electoral mandate to manage the affairs of the country to the SACP and Cosatu who just has to sneeze and we all catch a cold.
We are in this mess because Mr ANC is playing “footsey-footsey” with Mrs SACP and Mistress Cosatu. The Tripartite Alliance is a political polygamy of doom and gloom.
Most South Africans are struggling to get by. Without jobs South Africans depend more on the State and less on themselves. We are increasingly becoming a “Welfare State”, contrary to the mission of being a “Developmental State”.
We are no longer a Nation at work; we are a Nation out of work. The sound values of “self-help” and “self-reliance” have been replaced by a growing and systematic culture of dependency.
Unemployment, and youth unemployment in particular, is a ticking time bomb as it now sits at a 34.9%. We are now at Ground Zero. We have reached crisis point!
To grow our country’s economy and create jobs the IFP proposes the following urgent interventions that:
- We must balance job creation and job protection by revising labour laws to allow more flexibility, and reduce red-tape. This will generate investment, new jobs and growth.
- We take out the “politics” out of the economy- union politics should not should not hold our economic future ransom.
- We should focus on developing skills suitable for today’s job market through the funding of training programmes and learnerships.
- Support sustainable small and medium sized businesses and incentivise those that employ and train women and youth.
- The Youth Wage Subsidy should be implemented in its original form.
- We should create mentorship programmes through which local and international businesses can incubate youth businesses.
- Establish Special Economic Zones, particularly in rural areas, to ensure communities become self-sustainable- we must create tax incentives and low tax zones in these areas to stimulate growth, jobs and development.
- Land redistribution must be fast-tracked through “expropriation with compensation”.
- The education system must be completely overhauled.
I thank you.
Mkhuleko Hlengwa, MP
IFP Youth Brigade National Chairperson
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