Hansard: NA: Mini-plenary 4
House: National Assembly
Date of Meeting: 11 Mar 2021
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Minutes
UNREVISED HANSARD
MINI PLENARY - NATIONAL ASSEMBLY (VIRTUAL)
THURSDAY, 11 MARCH 2021
Watch the video here: MINI-PLENARY SESSIONS2
PROCEEDINGS OF MINI-PLENARY SESSION OF NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
Members of the mini-plenary session met on the virtual platform at 16:00.
House Chairperson Mr C T Frolick took the Chair and requested members to observe a moment of silence for prayer or meditation.
The Chairperson announced that the virtual mini-plenary sitting constituted a meeting of the National Assembly.
RULES OF A VIRTUAL MINI-PLENARY SESSION
(Announcement)
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr C T Frolick): ... been said in the virtual platform is deemed to have been said in the Houses of Parliament, can may be ruled upon. All members who have logged in shall be considered to be present, and are requested to
mute their microphones, and only unmute when recognised to speak.
The microphones are very sensitive, and would pick up noise which may disturb the attention of other members. When recognised to speak, please unmute your microphone and connect your video. Members may make use of the icons at the bottom of their screens; there is an option that allows a member to put up his or her hand to raise a point of order.
The secretariat will assist in alerting me when members are requesting to speak. When using the virtual system, members are urged or refrain or desist from unnecessary points of order or interjections. We now get to the subject for discussion. Let us proceed with the order of this mini-plenary session which is a subject for discussion in the name of the hon M N Nxumalo.
ONGOING CRISIS OF UNEMPLOYMENT ESPECIALLY AMONGST THE YOUTH AND THE NEED FOR GOVERNMENT TO PRIORITISE JOB OPPORTUNITIES FOR SOUTH AFRICANS WITH LOW OR NO SKILLS
(Subject for discussion)
Mr M N NXUMALO: House Chair, hon members and fellow South Africans, little more than a year ago, our lives and the world as we know it drastically changed when South Africa reported the first positive COVID-19 case. This pandemic has not only revealed the deep scars of inequality that our country still painfully suffers from and continues to suffer from, but has also shown us the utmost desperations, poverty and hunger ravaging our communities.
Today as we are facing an unemployment crisis in our country, admit that this pandemic does not even begin to sum up the scale of the problems and provide no relief for those who have had the same story and the same promises over and over heard from our government. What is this government going to do about the 7,1 million people who are unemployed? According to the recent figures from Statistics SA, of this 7,1 million people, 63% of them are young people – people between the ages of 15 and 34. In the age group of 15 to 24 alone, 59,9% are currently unemployed.
These figures will haunt us for generations and have dire consequences for our future and the future of this country. How can we even start to plan for the future if this country when people are unemployed? How do we even start to plan and
build a more equal society when our people are dying of hunger and poverty with no chance of employment? What has our government done? As shocking as these figures are, youth unemployment has been consistently on the high.
Yes, the pandemic has exaggerated the situation but it’s the situation that has tragically been created and has been fed for years due to the lack of action and commitment by our government in ensuring skills development and training for our people. The stark reality is that we are not working together as a country to uplift our youth and provide them with opportunities to develop their skills. We talk about government and private stakeholder initiatives, but do we see these initiatives and opportunities reflect in our employment policies? Even in the unskilled sector, we see a preference for foreign nationals above South Africans.
The fact has been reflected for years in annual report of the Commission of Employment Equity. In the commission’s latest report, it notes that the employment preference at entry level of foreign nationals rather than South African nationals remains very high, which the report in itself notes its ... [Inaudible.] ... considering our high rate of unemployment, particularly on the youth. How do we start to justify this to
our people? We are not talking about critical skills here? We are talking about the entry occupational levels. Our government has done extremely or extraordinary so little to address this particular reality.
The Employment Service Act of 2024 was specifically enacted to facilitate this particular employment of foreign nationals.
However, seven years later, the Minister is yet to publish the regulations dealing specifically with the employment Act for foreign nationals. The IFP believes strongly that we need measures in place to ring-fence jobs for the South African youth, especially in the low-skilled and semiskilled sectors.
The IFP, led by its hon member Van der Merwe, took the lead and drafted a private members’ Bill that directly speaks to the issue of getting South Africans to work. This dire situation should not be tolerated. Our youth should at least have a fighting chance to prove themselves. The IFP will champion this drive and this cause. We will not sit back and be passive bystanders in our country as our youth do not have jobs. Our country has no future if our youth have no future.
We really need to debate this and be honest to ourselves and to the electorate – that our young people are the ones who in
majority go and vote for us to be in government. Since 1994 the AND-led government has promised people jobs but ever since that particular day the opportunities for jobs for young South Africans – whether skilled or not skilled, graduate or no graduate, has been something else. We cannot even put words into it.
We need members to debate this and have government come up with plans to mitigate this. We are at a situation where unemployment has become a crisis. So, we call upon members to engage this with their soberness and all honesty and remember the people that are standing in the queues. Remember those young people who just graduated last year; those young people who want those opportunities from our government. We just want to implore you to debate this issue with all the honesty that it deserves. I thank you.
The DEPUTY MINISTER OF TRADE, INDUSTRY AND COMPETITION (Mr F Z
Majola): House Chairperson and hon members, the longest serving President of the African National Congress, Oliver Reginald Tambo, was made an ecstatic remark and I quote:
The children of any nation are its future. A country, a movement, a person that does not value its youth and children does not deserve its future.
His statement serves as a guide light to this day ensuring that in all of our actions must always reflect in the past, root ourselves in the present and build a better future. I pass condolences to the family that lost their son yesterday in Braamfontein amidst the students’ protest at Witwatersrand, Wits, University. May his soul rest in peace. The students protest in Braamfontein demonstrate the minacity of our challenges in the face of a pandemic that has destroyed lives and livelihoods. Nevertheless, the maintenance strong resolve at all times to deal the triple challenge of poverty, inequality and unemployment as we have done in the past years.
We have made many gains, but the legacy we seek to crush is resilient. However, we may not lose hope. Youth unemployment continues primarily to affect African youth with those in informal settlements, townships and rural areas bearing the heaviest burdens. Statistics South Africa, Stats SA, in its first quarterly report on the vulnerability of youth in the labour market states the high youth unemployment rate has long been one of the most pressing socioeconomic problems in South
Africa and is worsen by the fact that the young work seekers lack education, skills or work experience demanded by the labour market.
Compounding our challenges, coronavirus disease, 2019, Covid- 19, swept about two million job in the market since our government declared a National State of Disaster. Many South Africans understood that despite all hardships, it is only through us working together that we can survive the pandemic that has taken our jobs, disrupted our lives and taken many precious lives. President Ramaphosa in his state of the nation address declared that we are rebuilding our economy in a manner that is inclusive, that creates jobs and that leaves people out of poverty. Let me illuminate you a bit on the strides government has made to work, to strengthen the resolve that we shall make it against the coalface of adversity.
Since 1994, the government pursuit multiple strategies and interventions aimed at addressing the challenge of youth unemployment. To ensure economic participation government implemented several public employment programmes which primarily targeted youth. These programmes include: Community Works Programme, Expanded Public Works Programme, National Rural Youth Service Corps, National Youth Service Programme,
skills training including Sector Education and Training Authorities, Seta, funded learnerships, Jobs Fund, Employment Tax Incentive and the Youth Employment Service.
As of December 2018, of the R4,3 million the Expanded Public Works Programme, EPWP, work opportunities created two million targeted a youth. Government identified business process outsourcing and of ensuring as a priority sector that for the attraction of investment and creation of jobs. It was determined that business and government should work co- operatively to develop and execute a strategy that would make South Africa a preferred location for offshore business profits. The business trust responded positively to these initiatives and allocated a funding of R100 million to facilitate the process of interaction between the public and the private sectors.
Today, we can report that jobs created have increased exponentially from just 9 000 jobs in 2009, to over 71 000 jobs in 2020. On 21 April 2020, President Cyril Ramaphosa committed that R100 billion will be invested in job creation as part of the stimulus package for the country. In the special adjustment budget announced in June 2020, an amount of R19,6 billion was allocated for 2020-21. The Presidential
Youth Employment Intervention project is another one of government’s mechanisms to tackle and set out prerogative actions to address youth unemployment. Another grate initiative to note is the Youth Employment Service which is a partnering initiative where government collaborated with business and labour to tackle South Africa’s youth unemployment to cocreate a future works.
The Youth Employment Service, Yes, initiative has orderly provided itself to improve itself to be one of the two innovations in South Africa generate more than 50 000 quality work experiences with more than 312 corporates already signed up for the next year’s programme. Yes invested R2,8 billion into the economy through youth salaries with 58% being women and 85% coming from grant recipient households. The Industrial Development Corporation and the Small Enterprise Finance Agency have committed a combined R2,7 billion to finance
youth-owned enterprises. Over R1,1 billion dispersed for Small Enterprise Finance Agency, Sefa, youth-own enterprises since the signing of the youth support creating 63 222 jobs for the period 2014 to 2018.
Government is in the process of introducing Digital Hubs located in state-owned industrial parks, special economic
zones and other areas as determined by the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition. The hubs are introduced to capacitate the youth and emerging businesses with digital knowledge empower entrepreneurs with market incites and provide linkages for small business opportunities. The economic reconstruction and recovery plan driven by the re- emerging industrial strategy places emphasis on masterplans as key drivers, protect investment, build capable local industries and create jobs.
To date, four masterplans have been completed and signed with signals to collective commitment of all social partners and ensuring success in their respective industries. The process to finalise two more masterplans is currently underway. The poultry masterplan has attracted 800 million ways of investment which will ensure that young people are not just employed in the sector, but are employers themselves. During lockdown we managed to sign the sugar masterplan which has since contributed in decline of imports and an increase in local production from our growers. The industry currently, employed an estimated 65 000 people directly and through upstream and downstream multipliers support a further 270 000 indirect jobs.
A sugar industry sustains an estimated one million livelihoods mostly in deep rural areas, like in the poultry industry support for black farmers has been scaled up to ensure access and competitive farming. The signing of the clothing textiles, footwear and leather master planning 2019, provide a blueprint for investment and job creation through localisation in the industry. The ... [Inaudible.] ... value chain sustained approximately 212 000 formal jobs with some 92 000 jobs estimated in the manufacturing sector and 120 in the retail portion of the value chain. Majority of the jobs in the value chain in this industry are mainly young people from designs to retail employees.
The automotive masterplan commit to double production from 600 000 cars to 1,2 million cars and double employment in the automotive value chain from 112 000 in 2015, to 224 000. The Ford Motor Company in February this year, announced a
R16 billion investment to expand their manufacturing facility in Tshwane. The investment from Ford will increase production to 200 vehicles from 168. The expanded production will help create 1 200 implemental Ford jobs in South Africa increasing the local workforce to 5 500 employees and adding an estimated
10 000 new jobs across Ford’s local supplier network.
In addition, the investment has created an opportunity for the development of the Gauteng- Eastern Cape Rail Freight Corridor estimated a R10 billion and is expected to be fully functional by 2025. This corridor development will unite to job creation and stimulate more business opportunities in the two provinces. Once again, I wish to reiterate, hon House Chair, the words of Isithwalandwe Seaparankwe, Oliver Reginald Tambo, that:
A country, a movement, a person that does not value its youth and children does not deserve its future.
I thank you.
Mr L MPHITHI: Hon House Chair, I would like to take this moment to send my deepest condolences on behalf of the DA to the family of Mthokozisi Ntumba who was brutally killed on the streets of Braamfontein yesterday. No one deserve to die the way that he did. We plead with all those involved to remain calm and nonviolent including the police.
Mark Twain said:
The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.
Unfortunately, under the ANC the youth may never find out why. Young people continue to bear the brunt of unemployment, poverty and inequality. They remain the hardest hit by violent crime, drug abuse and underdevelopment. All these things we know, so I am going to skip pass them and ask an important question to say, why is it that the ANC does not want young people to succeed in this country? Why are young people in street corners without anything to do? Why are young people who have received tertiary education sitting at home as we speak while their qualifications collect dust? Where are all the plans that the ANC talks about? Where are all the opportunities we hear about every year? Why are young people not receiving them on the ground? I want us to work through the plans that the ANC has told us about.
In 2018, there was a job summit in Sandton. You may remember that where 77 commitments were made to help fight unemployment in this country. What is the status of those 77 commitments?
What has happened to them? Many of us continue to wonder whether what happened in Sandton in 2018 was just a publicity stance where they did not, in fact, try to deal with youth
unemployment in this country. What happened to the plan to support young entrepreneurs? Where is the support for work seekers and training for work readiness to better match young people to economic opportunities? What happened to lowering data costs? Young people spend on average R380 on data looking for work. With 8,2 million young South Africans not in employment, education or training, data remain a luxury. What happened to these commitments?
In 2018, already the President has stated that youth unemployment service initiative which would create a million paid internship over three years, we have still as young people not seen what has happened to those million internships. In fact, since that statement young people are more unemployed now than they were then. As if youth unemployment is not bad enough we now have to deal with the frustration and the anxiety of having to inherit an incapable state at the brink of economic collapse. The truth is under the ANC government young people continue to remain unemployed. The fact of the matter is as young people we will go and grow up to be middle age still trying to repay and rebuild this economy.
Today, we will listen to every ANC speaker telling us what they tell us every year. The fact remains no matter how beautiful and well-crafted your coffin may look like, it won’t make any one wish for death. The truth is young people are in the most dangerous economic and political periods of our lives. Young people my age, between the age of 16 and 35 years old are at risk of never working a day in their entire lives, or if they do work they are basically working to be poorer than their parents and having a lower standard of living.
I ask the ANC to balance us. What is the plan this time around? Do you need some time to think about it? While you think about it let me tell you what the DA wants to do. The DA has proven where we govern that we actually put young people at the centre of our agenda, and we actually have a track record of delivering. You would initiate a voluntary national service - a one year programme of income and skills development for school leavers. Something we have already piloted in the Western Cape trough the Premiers Advancement of Youth Programme. We would create jobs throughout South Africa that provide advice and free internet for jobseekers. We would grow small business opportunities through increased funding assistance and removing blockages and red tape. We would put an end to the practice of sex for jobs, cash for jobs and
cadre deployment across government. We would ensure bursaries to learners from low income families to ensure that they cover comprehensive costs of studies so to ensure that learners have the necessary tools on time to pass. We would develop a work study entrepreneurship programme substantially increasing involvement of companies to provide opportunities in new and existing fields – in other words the restimulation of the employment tax incentive. This through giving firms a tax credit for hiring individuals between the ages of 18 and 29 years of age. One of the imperfections of the South African labour market is the effects of the collective bargaining or negotiated union wages on wages for both union and nonunion workers, which in result creates wages that are too high to clear the market. The wage subsidy implicit in the employment tax incentive, ETI, lowers the cost of the young, experienced worker to employers without lowering the wages of the workers themselves.
The only thing I know with absolute certainty is that the ANC has failed to break the stranglehold of the extreme inequality, unemployment, economic inclusion. Each and everyday they failed young men and women who carry their dreams in suitcases to a South Africa that was promised. They failed the men and women who still have hope that one day this
will turn around. They failed our children, they failed the youth who went to school to have a different life. It is the youth of South Africa that I do believe will unshackle our country from the ANC. It is the youth of South Africa who, when confronted with various challenges, are not afraid to seek different opinions for the sake of solutions and progress. It is young people such like Michael Kamikeng, the young... [Time expired.]
Ms Y N YAKO: Chairperson, the grand crisis of unemployment that started in the late 1970s and continued to this day is closely linked to the South Africa’s adoption of neoliberal policies and the deindustrialisation that has collapsed the little manufacturing that was there in the economy. The grand crisis of unemployment in particular the failure to give young people a skill is part of preparation for them to join and participate productively in the economy is linked with defunding of education, research and development. You drive you see bodies of lifeless young people in the streets covered with blood. Innocent men such as Mthokozisi Ntumba [Inaudible.] graduate and employed as participants in the economy.
South Africa has a total labour force of just over 22 million people - more than 11,2 million people. These are people who are ready and willing to work, fit and capable to work but cannot find work anyway. More than three million people between the ages of 15 and 24 years old are not in employment, not in education and not in training. Meaning that these are people that are just languishing in the streets everyday without contributing in any form or shape to South Africa’s economy in any productive way. This is the true state of the joblessness pandemic facing young people in South Africa today. We need to rethink the whole industrialisation approach in South Africa in a more realistic and practical manner.
At the centre of South Africa’s industrial policy should be the expansion of a manufacturing capacity to produce industrial and household goods. Many of the industrial goods that are consumed by the state to kick-start the process of industrialisation we should use the state’s procurement budget. In any case there is evidence from other parts of the world to show that industrial factories that produce industrial and household goods do not depend on high sophisticated skills, but can accommodate labour force with low skills.
Government, through the departments of Health, Police, Agriculture and all others, spend hundreds of billions on motor cars every single year. South Africa should reorientate Denel’s capacity to manufacture these motor cars with upfront orders. Hospitals, clinics and correctional facilities spend billion each year on linen yet South Africa does not have a textile industry. We must rebuild factories that were closed in places such as Atlantis, Shayandima and Seshego to localise production of linen and other textile material in this country.
There are many goods that government and households use on a daily basis that as a country we should produce them locally. However, any industrial strategy that is not planned and guided by the state cannot happen without creation of jobs.
This is why it is important for the state to be at the centre of an industrial strategy to ensure that there are jobs.
We know that white-owned manufacturing companies are rushing to replace people with machines to maximise profit at all costs even though there is no sufficient evidence to show that when you replace people with machine whatever you produce will have no buyers. Without jobs there is no income, without income there are no buyers, and no industrial strategy not led
by the state will lead to industrialisation without jobs. We know that the current government does not have willingness and capacity to build a sustainable industrial capacity. South Africa will continue to depend largely in the economy that exports raw material only to import finished goods produced by other people who created jobs for their people while young people in South Africa languish in unemployment.
The stealthy Budget driven by a capitalist agenda is undisputable and clear evidence that there is no intention to revive the economy or even the industrialisation to create jobs for young people.
The Department of Trade, Industry and Competition’s budget was
cut by R1,3 billion. This is the consequence of austerities. You cannot say you prioritise jobs for young people and implement policies that cut funding for education and cut a budget of a department that is meant to lead the country towards industrialisation. I thank you, Chair.
Mr M HLENGWA: Hon House Chair, at the outset, let me convey condolences, on behalf of the IFP, to the family of Mthokozisi Ntumba, his wife and three children, who died at the hands of a brutal police force, which is unable to even meet the most
basics of riot control. His death arises out of a collapse of funding for students in our institutions of higher learning. The ripple effect of that collapse is that, if these students are not able to enter university, they become another statistic of people who are unskilled, unqualified, and therefore, inching closer and closer to unemployment.
You have a shrinking tax base, all because of the collapsing economy. The truth is that our problems did not begin with covid-19, nor the lockdown. Those things simply compounded the problem that we have had for the longest of time. Since 1994, all sorts of plans have been made - Gear, Asgisa, the RDP, the NDP. All of them had fallen by the wayside.
What South Africa is good at is planning; what it is bad at is implementation. The worst outcome of that is that the victims become the young people of this country who continue to languish in poverty and unemployment.
Government seems to be failing to understand the basic of these terms and as a result of that, year in and year out, we will come to this House, debate this issue and government simply does not have a plan.
So, it is quite clear now that the problem is not South Africa but the problem is the government. It is time that the government was removed. We cannot, year in and year out be saying the same thing over and over again to the same party, without results, without movement and without any care or concern.
When the IFP was in government, where we governed, we developed special economic zones for the initiatives for local economic development. Here we are speaking about areas such as
... [Inaudible.]. When the ANC took over, they decided to shut those things down, because they saw them as the legacy of the IFP. What happened is that people lost jobs and now you have recognised that we were right and you are correcting that.
We have said for the longest of time, develop jobs where people are; develop the economy where people are. What have we seen? Further and further reductions in the funding to the municipalities where they should be able to create the spaces for people to get jobs. This too is an indictment on this government.
So, we are proposing, as the IFP, that the low-skilled jobs that the country has must be reserved for South Africans. This
is not xenophobic, this is not nationalistic; it is a patriotic duty for the millions of young South African who are in desperate need of jobs, desperate need for dignity. As hon Nxumalo said, the Bill that we will be tabling in Parliament, seeks to do exactly that.
When will this government put South Africans first? When will this government acknowledge its failures? When will this government walk its talk? We are dealing today with the challenges of free education, which was promised as far back as 1994. Nothing has happened.
In 2009, you promised 10 million jobs. In that year, the economy lost 500 000 jobs. On every promise that this ANC government has made successfully, they have walked in the opposite direction of the implementation of that promise.
Shape up or shape out. Young people in this country want jobs. It is incumbent on the government to create a conducive and enabling environment for that to happen. So far, you have failed to do so. Look no further than the statistics. They tell you the challenge ... [Time expired.] The inequality we see is an indictment on you. Thank you.
Afrikaans:
Me T BREEDT: Agb Voorsitter, Suid-Afrika is in ’n krisis. Suid-Afrika staan op die rand van ’n afgrond en werkloosheid is dit wat Suid-Afrika oor die afgrond gaan dryf. As ons van werkloosheid praat, en ons kyk spesifiek na jeugwerkloosheid, dan staan ons nie meer op die rand van ’n afgrond nie, ons is oor die afgrond. Daar is nie meer takke op die pad ondertoe om die val te breek nie.
Hierdie is dalk baie metafories gestel, maar ’n feit bly ’n feit. Die enigste manier waarop ons gaan verseker dat Suid- Afrika nie oor die afgrond tuimel nie, is om seker te maak dat daar takkies oppad ondertoe is, waaraan daar vasgeklou kan word. Hierdie takkies waaraan jeugwerkloosheid egter gaan moet vasklou, sodat hy nie die bodem van die afgrond tref nie, of selfs mee kan probeer uitklim, is nie wat die ANC-regering dink dit is nie.
English:
Youth unemployment will not be addressed by summits, workshops and government agencies. Jobs do not fall from the sky or grow on trees for that matter, and can also not be created by any government. Let me repeat, job opportunities do not fall from the sky and no government can sustainably create jobs.
Job opportunities are dependent on economic growth and circumstances, which allow and are conducive for businesses to invest and grow and flourish.
Yes, it is important to ensure that our education system functions, so that people get opportunities to acquire skills and qualifications, but currently, skilled South Africans are leaving the country annually, because of a lack of opportunities and the dire circumstance. These include violent crime and a lack of service delivery.
Around 23 000 skilled South Africans leave the country annually. We are losing skills. The fact of the matter is that we need skilled South Africans to stay in the country, to ensure that more jobs are created, that low and no-skilled South Africans are employed, skills are transferred to them and that South Africa as a whole prosper.
Businesses cannot grow and invest where there are no basic services, where sewage is running in the streets. There is no stable electricity provision and infrastructure is deteriorating.
Job creation will not take place, if there are not the required structural reforms such as addressing our energy crisis - and we have seen many load shedding issues today - making it easier to do business and trade, and lowering corporate taxes.
Government needs to stimulate a conducive environment for the private sector. The answer is quite simple – less restrictive legislation. It should be made attractive and safe to invest in South Africa. Currently, it is not.
There is policy uncertainty, threats of expropriation without compensation, unaffordable minimum wages and no value for money in terms of tax paid.
The youth needs equal opportunities. Stop discrimination on the basis of race. Stop legislation that only benefits a selected politically connected and which is taking away from the masses of unemployed and poor youth.
South Africans have enormous potential and South Africa alike. This can be a prosperous country, if an environment is created where they can flourish, if there is a responsible government that acts against corruption, where policies and legislation
provide equal opportunities for all and where tax money is earned, not collected.
Afrikaans:
Hierdie is die takkies wat gaan maak dat jeugwerkloosheid homself uit die dieptes van die afgrond terugkry, wat in realiteit, Suid-Afrika gaan red van die afgrond, en nie dit wat die ANC-regering dink werkloosheid gaan aanspreek en oplos, en Suid-Afrika, in sy geheel, gaan red nie. Ek dank u.
Ms M SUKERS: Hon Chair, our biggest challenge in this House is talking past each other, serving narrow sectional interests, while pretending to benefit the country as a whole, or agitating for utopias, but never offering a practical roadmap. This prevents us from taking hands to find new solutions that actually address this problem.
Over the last 20 years, we started numerous agencies, lavishly funded the government, but sits with an ever-widening skills and employment gap.
Agriculture is a vital sector, which has a significant capacity to absorb low-skilled and unskilled workers.
Afrikaans:
Landbou is ’n belangrike sektor om individuele en gemeenskapsontwikkeling te bevorder tot die voordeel van die land en voedselsekerheid. Die covid-19 pandemie het globale voorsieningskettings ontwrig en dit is ’n geleentheid om ons eie selfstandige landbousektor te bevoordeel.
Ons grootste uitdaging in hierdie land is dat die verlede ons toekoms kniehalter en dit verhoed ons om krisis in geleentheid te verander. Landbou en vaardigheidsontwikkeling moet sinoniem word, anders sal ons mense altyd waterdraers en houtkappers bly, selfs in mentaliteit.
English:
We urgently need a national debate that includes all our people and addresses the issues of developing rural communities and empowering rural workers through effective skills development programmes. We must not close rural schools, as it is a key driver of the rural economy and an important means of transferring resources from the urban to the rural environment.
Afrikaans:
Ons sal ’n kopskuif moet maak en bereid wees om opofferings te maak om herontwikkeling van landelike gemeenskappe te bevorder. Dit is die grootste sleutel tot stabiliteit en werkskepping met vaardigheidsontwikkeling.
Wat dit verhoed is die politiek.
English:
The ACDP wants to emphasise the need for us to rediscover the dignity and importance of working the land. It is a dignity that comes from the valley of hard work and the contribution it makes to building our country. To unlock the potential of agriculture in creating joyful employment will require courage and boldness to remove the obstacles that make this sector a curse word to the majority of people, especially young people.
We must develop sustainable models in farming and these must lay the foundation for pathways to productive land ownership.
Afrikaans:
Ons moet herkenning gee dat landbou die mees arbeidsintensiewe sektor is en die grootste bydrae tot opheffing kan lewer. In Uganda in 2019 was dit ’n emosionele en persoonlike ontwaking om die trots van landboustudente en akademici te sien. Die
fokus daar was op landbou vir die behoud van mense en land, en hier in Suid-Afrika moet ons dieselfde voorbeeld volg.
Mr V ZUNGULA: House Chairperson, on behalf of the ATM, I would like to extend our deepest condolences to the family of Mthokozisi Ntumba.
The growing crisis of unemployment, especially among the youth, must not be ignored any longer, especially given the fact that more than 63% of youth are unemployed. Out of the
11 million South African citizens who are unemployed, more than 55% do not have matric. About 30% only have matric.
So, realistically speaking, we have more than 6 million South African citizens who are dependent upon low-skills jobs in order to make a living.
The government has failed South Africa by allowing non-South African citizens to dominate low-skills jobs at the expense of citizens. Across the country, these low-skills jobs are dominated by non-South Africans, from hospitality, truck driving, hairdressing, security, metred taxi drivers, domestic work, and others.
South Africa can’t afford to play Father Christmas to the entire world at the expense of its own citizens. South African youth can’t be beggars in their own country.
The Department of Employment and Labour must do inspections in all companies to check whether those companies are operating within the law when it comes to employing of non-South African citizens. All companies who are breaking the law must be heavily fined and the management responsible for hiring non- South African citizens must be charged and arrested in accordance with the law.
IsiXhosa:
Linyala ...
English:
... to find a company operating in our country yet not even one South African citizen is working there.
The Minister of Finance did allude to this problem in April 2020 saying, in the new economy, post-lockdown, the majority of the workers must be South African.
We know many companies prefer to employ non-South Africans in order to exploit them and pay them slave wages. This reverses the gains made in achieving equality in the workplace, especially because it is the black South Africans who are laid off in order to create ...
Ms P T VAN DAMME: House Chairperson, I rise on a point of order.
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr C T Frolick): Hon member, what is the point of order?
Ms P T VAN DAMME: Chairperson, while I acknowledge that this is a debate and that there are points of debate, I do believe that, as Members of Parliament, we have a duty to uphold the values of the Constitution. I do not believe that sentiments that express xenophobia are not the kind that Parliament should allow. My point of order is that the sentiments that hon Zungula has expressed throughout his speech can only be classified as xenophobic, and particularly xenophobic towards African nationals. I therefore require your ruling in this instance. Thank you.
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr C T Frolick): Hon member, I will look into the matter. However, this is a political discussion and debate that is taking place. I see the DA does have a member speaking later in the debate. That member will be able to respond to what the hon member on the podium is saying. In the meantime, I will allow the member to exercise his freedom of speech. But I will consult the Hansard and, if necessary, make an appropriate ruling. Please continue, hon member.
Mr V ZUNGULA: Thank you, Chairperson.
This reverses the gains made in achieving the gains made in achieving equality in the workplace, especially because black South Africans are laid off in order to create space for no- South Africans. No company operating in South Africa should be allowed to break the law. No company should be allowed to operate in our country without the majority of its work force being South African citizens.
The ATM says that special attention must be paid to these China malls where almost all stores do not even employ a single South African. We can’t allow that nonsense to continue any longer. This is South Africa. The expectation and the reality must be that the majority of employees in any business
must be black South Africans as we are the majority. No new law is needed here. No new ratios are needed here. Instead, we just need the department to enforce the existing laws.
Lastly, just like Home Affairs is reviewing permits issued since 2004, Employment and Labour must review ... [Time expired.]
Ms M L DUNJWA: Good afternoon, House Chair and hon members. Indeed, as an inclusive government whose purpose is to unite our people, the ANC’s manifesto of 2019 speaks to an inclusive approach when it says, let’s grow South Africa together.
Growing South Africa together is a clarion call to all South Africans, both black and white, rich and poor, urban and rural, young and old, to make this vision a living reality.
The ANC manifesto has seven focus areas of which the first two speak to the creation of new jobs, and decent jobs, transforming the economy to serve all people.
Before my ... [Inaudible.]
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr C T Frolick): Hon Dunjwa, I think you have muted yourself. Please unmute yourself.
Ms M L DUNJWA: [Inaudible.] ... that we must speak the truth and yes, speak truth to power. It is not true that there is nothing that this government has done.
IsiXhosa:
Lo rhulumente usebenzile, kuba namhlanje sinabantwana abaxhaswa ngemali kwimfundo yabo, yinto engazange yenzeka ke leyo. Ukuba ingxaki isekubeni bebaninzi abantwana abafunda kwiiyunivesithi, kunabo bafunda kula maziko emfundo siwabiza ngokuba zii-Tvet ukuze bakwazi ukufumana izakhono, bakwazi ukuzimela bangaxhomekeki ebantwini, makuthethwe ngaloo nto kungathiwa, lo rhulumente akukho nto ayenzileyo.
Besingenakuze sime apha kule Palamente sithethe isiNgesi ngolu hlobo, ukuba lo rhulumente ukhokelwa yi-ANC ebengazange aqinisekise ukuba umzali umsa kwisikolo esithandwa nguye umntwana wakhe. Ingxaki yile yokuba, baninzi abantwana abakhoyo abangafumani misenbenzi, kodwa ...
English:
...we must ask ourselves, if we say that there are many graduates who are unemployed, who are those who are unemployed and who are those who are unemployable because of the degrees that they have acquired.
I will make an example. We have a number of young people who have done public administration. Where are they going to be employed? Instead of us talking about ... how then do we ensure that, in terms of the young people, a programme of basic education and that of higher education and training ...
IsiXhosa:
... zidibane, kukhangelwe abantwana ukuze bachazelwe ngezakhono ezifumaneka e-Tvet.
English:
Yes, people who have benefitted from the system of education of this country, who have acquired skills because they were privileged, today they are saying this government has done nothing.
We are in a crisis. Yes, I agree. But we are in a crisis that we inherited. We must not run away from that.
I’m worried that there is no time. There are issues here that
have been raised which I think need to be challenged.
The President said for young people, we must remove work experience for employment so that they, at the entry level, are able to, especially in the public service ...
If I can make an example now of what the Department of Employment and Labour through its branch which is called Public Employment Service ... I will just name three, because I don’t have time ... three provinces.
In the Eastern Cape, between the ages of 15 and 35, we have about 12 000 young people who are seeking jobs. In the Western Cape ... and of those 12 000-plus are females, and 11 000-plus are males. In the Western Cape, we have between 15 and 35,
9 400, of which 8 000-plus of those are females, 9 000-plus of those are males.
The unfortunate part ...
IsiXhosa:
... Sihlalo, kuzakunyanzeleka ukuba ...
English:
When we want the statistics and the truth, we must also reflect on race because ...
IsiXhosa:
... ilungu le-DA apha lithi, ...
English:
... they are doing better.
We who have young people in our constituencies who are coming to other provinces because they are alleging that in the Western Cape, a particular race would be preferred over others
...
Therefore, I really want to say, if we talk about dignity ... yes, we are to talk about dignity. Together we must be here. Together as public representatives we must then begin to say, what is it that we think that is not being implemented in a manner that is going to change the young people.
As a result, as Employment and Labour, we want to make some amendments in the form of laws that are a stumbling block for young people to get work. An example of that is the Criminal
Amendment Act. I am not referring to people that have raped or murdered people. I am talking about young people who have committed petty crimes, like stealing a loaf of bread or make- up at a time that person was a student. But that criminal record takes 10 years to be expunged. Therefore, as Employment and Labour, we are going to look into that so that we create a conducive environment and an enabling environment for young people to work.
Skills ...
It is going to be important that we take out the mindset of young people and parents in particular who think that a child
... for a child to be educated he must only go to a university. That is why we have an overflow.
And our condolences as the ANC to the unfortunate situation of Mr Mthokozisi Ntumba who died yesterday.
We think that the small business working together with employment and labour ... there can’t be an inspection in each and every workplace. It can’t be. We are inspectors or public representatives. It is in that context that, as employment and
labour, we want to propose – and we want government to look into this – that there must be regulations.
Low skills ...There must be ... We must regulate. If, for example, we are saying, in the hospitality ... I’m just making an example ... it must be 60-40, we must agree on that. We can’t then say we don’t want African people. But what we need to do ... we must regulate because other countries do regulate.
And I do think as hon members, in particular ... I am worried about those members who are saying skills have migrated in South Africa. Yes, they have migrated. But who has left South Africa? It’s people who were privileged. [Time expired.]
Mr C H M SIBISI: Hon House Chair and hon members, I greet you all with a very heavy, heavy heart because the issue of unemployment in this country is a hard and very real reality. In a country already heaving stricken by poverty with an extremely wide inequality gap, spiralling levels of crime, etc, unemployment exacerbates these serious matters. In fact, these high levels of unemployment with a lack of comprehensive plan from government on how it plans to reduce it, is a grave concern. The ANC government is not singing from the same key
note on the matter of employment. On the one hand the Minister of Finance sends warnings to reduce government spending, the wage bill and other related costs in order to slow down the country’s borrowing rate. But on the other hand the President stood before the nation during his state of the nation address and makes job creation a priority through the infamous Presidential Employment stimulus. President Ramaphosa told the nation that by the end of January 2021, over 430 000 opportunities have already been supported through the stimulus. He said a further 180 000 opportunities were currently in the recruitment process. This is a total 610 000 job opportunities which is an ambitious target given the financial constraints our fiscus is in. Where is the money going to come from to fund these job opportunism?
We support the initiatives of government in creating job opportunities, but what is concerning is the strained fiscus and whether these targets can be achieved at all. The matter of unemployment is a very sensitive one to South Africans. It is not to be toyed with because it affects the livelihoods of families, their basic human rights therefore, when government make such commitments it must deliver on them.
Public confidence on this government is already defeated. Statistics show that the unemployment rate of those aged between 14 and 35 was 70%, meaning that youth unemployment could be described as catastrophic. The unemployment rate stood at 32,5% in the fourth quarter according the Statistics SA, but the expanded definition of unemployment stood at 42,6%. For further quarter of 2020 the number of employed increased to 15 million. It also shows that the number of unemployed people increased to 7,2 million.
The NFP believes that in order to successfully address the issue of spiralling unemployment in this country government must forget about the limited definition which stands at 32,5%, but focus on tackling the expanded definition of unemployment sitting at 42,6%. People who fall into the expanded definition have given up looking for jobs because there are no jobs anymore in the economy. We do not think anyone sitting at home not working right now is by choice. This saddening...[Time expired.]
Mr W M MADISHA: Chairperson and all members, it is not the first time that this motion gets brought before this House. Here I am referring to all the unemployed, both the young and the old. When it was brought before this House, government
agreed that it was a crisis. It further promised that that crisis will be addressed. By that I am saying it was done from 1998 and on very many other accessions up to today.
I have pointed out that given that this discussion has become a song of this Parliament that gives instructions to the government, it does nothing but ignores what both Parliament and South Africans instruct it to do. Those jobs can be created. I’m saying that, and by that I am referring to government. Government is supposed to get instructions from both Parliament and the people of South Africa.
In the previous discussions I pointed out that, to quote myself of what I said then:
South Africa is the sixth richest country in the world, but it is one of the poorest in the world. South Africa’s riches emerged from the mineral resources where more than400 000 people work, but are losing jobs daily, and are, or even paid very low wages.
To further quote what I said then:
As it was the case from 1998, it is a fact that still prevail that the recommendations we make are never implemented that is why today unemployed rate stands at above 50%, and the majority of those who work do not receive any living wages.
When I raised that fact which has been empirically proven, government said it was not true. But where are we today?
Whether government agrees or disagree it has put South Africans in an economic genocide. What must be done? We are in a very serious problem therefore what must be done? The first thing that I propose is that we must stop multiple privatisation of state infrastructure. [Interjections.]
Mr X NQOLA: House Chair, I am urging hon Madisha to choose whether to show us his thumb or his face.
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr C T Frolick): Hon member, you can’t
just interrupt. Why do you want me to recognise you?
Mr X NQOLA: Chair, I am saying, hon Madisha is showing us the thumb and half of his face, so he must decide which one.
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr C T Frolick): Oh, hon Madisha, hon Nqola and others would like to see your face, and not your thumb for the last 10 seconds that you are left with. Your face is not visible on the screen.
Mr W M MADISHA: Can I go on, hon Chairperson? I propose that what government has to do is to stop multiple privatisation of state infrastructure as you are doing at the moment. Secondly, it must reduce the highest levels of bureaucracy which outdoes the size of all Africa’s biggest countries. That is what is happening and young people don’t get jobs. If you check the bureaucracy here we have a very serious problem. [Time expired.]
Mr M BAGRAIN: Chairperson, it was Euripides who said, and I quote: “Talk sense to a fool and he calls you foolish.” Nonetheless, Minister, I am talking to you and I am willing to take a chance. The unemployment crisis amongst the youth in South Africa is now the worst in the world, not only is it the worst in the world, but sure enough it is deteriorating daily. Despite our government trying money at various summits, talk shop discussions ideas every year we descend further and further into the pit. It’s time to say that when you are in a whole stop digging. Someone is to tell our President to stop
digging. It can’t be business as usual. A lot of these problems start at school and obviously we need to teach our learners how to be work ready and how to be productive and functional, for not only to themselves and their families, but for our society. It was Margaret Mead who said children must be taught how to think, not what to think. It is particularly sad to see our schools training out learners year after year who are not functional for our workforce. Clearly, the economies the world have arrived. Government does not and should not be creating jobs. Government should be creating an environment to enable businesses o employ. Furthermore, most of the economists the world over telling us that small businesses that will be an engine room for job creation for our future. Small businesses desperately need conducive regulatory free environment.
The DA is not calling for complete deregulation, but it is calling for assistance whereby businesses don’t feel that government is a hand break for job creation. Government should be supplying the oil to grease the wheels of an employment environment. So what our Minister of Employment does, he does everything in his power to hamper job creation in the small business environment. Even our Minister of Finance mooted the idea of decoupling small businesses from the bargaining
council. What does our Minister of Employment and Labour do, he signs off a spurious agreement extending the bargaining council for the restaurant industry when he knew full well that it will be destructive especially after COVID-19 lockdown, and especially after an outright ban on liquor sale destroying the industry which is already on its hands and knees.
When you talk about youth unemployment you effectively mean those who need to come into the workforce for the first time. This group can’t look to the ruling party who still in that unhappy and dysfunctional relationship with the Congress of SA Trade Unions, Cosatu. It stands to reason that the governing party cannot speak for the unemployed because they only speak for the employed with the fork tongue minded. Even the trade union movement they are starting to see through the duplicity’s actions of the ANC. The ANC negotiators are those very people who carefully entered into a three-year wage agreement with the civil servants and then went ahead to renege. The government was fully aware that it could not afford the wage increases and despite this [Inaudible.] they entered into an untenable and unsustainable three-year increase agreement. When the tricks were done they literally could not afford to pay the third year increase and they blame
it on the lockdown. They look for a technical gap showing to the world that they are completely untrustworthy. We cannot rely on the present government to create jobs for the youth, not now and not ever.
We can only increase employment for the youth by giving small firms a break. It has been said and estimated that it is almost 70% of all jobs in South Africa are provided by small and medium-sized firms. These are the bridges between the informal sector and the formal taxpayer business world. Our labour legislation does not differentiate between small and large businesses. It should! Labour laws that increase the job security of people already in employment cannot avoid preventing those desperate to enter into the labour market from finding work. The mess unemployment that we have today unprecedented in modern history is a consequence of all about lack of skills, poor education, unavailability of job creating, the fear of dismal legislation and quite frankly the entire onerous regulations and laws.
Despite all of these our unions who act as tail wagging the dog – the dog which is our government – encourage more and more rigidity so as to improve the laws of those who have
already employment and to act as a barrier for those who want to enter the job market.
The unemployed in South Africa have no chance. They cannot negotiate their own working conditions and they certainly cannot encourage small business to at least give them a chance. Our labour laws stand as a very steady barrier for any young person to enter the workplace. The terminations of employment procedures are so complex and so negative that my son employment is only unavoidable as a consequence of these conditions. It will be a permanent future unless we change the government and a group of legislators who are prepared to consider the unemployed. The disadvantaged individuals will be able to enter the workplace if the environment is relaxed to an extent that small businesses can take a chance. [Time expired.]
The DEPUTY MINISTER OF SMALL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT: Hon House
Chair, hon members of the House, our guests on the platform, and many, many who are affected, who are keen to listen or to hear about this important debate. I also want to join the Members of Parliament who spoke and also sent condolences to the bereaved family, due to the problem in our university. I also send condolences to those who lost their beloved ones
during the pandemic, that actually ravaged our land and our communities like a wild fire.
I also rise to wish all those who will be going to their various places of worship to do so very well and being mindful that, the enemy of the pandemic remains with us. I appreciate this opportunity of participating in this very important debate about the future of Africa and the future of the world, our young people, ...
IsiXhosa:
...amaqobo namaqobokazana. Sithetha ngani namhlanje.
English:
Indeed, the crisis continues to increase. We will remember that in 2020, the percentage of unemployed youth was 55,75% and it is now clear that, it is continuing ...[Inaudible]... we agree on that one. I am not going to further continue analysing it because it is with us. We fully agree, we have got a crisis of unemployed young South Africans. I also want to include women.
Although there is a really a lot of causative problems that make us and this country to be in this situation. Let me just
choose one, because when we come to Parliament, we tend to deliberately forget what happened yesterday. I am going back to that debate of saying, the causative effect here is inequality.
IsiXhosa:
Ukuba wena uligqwetha, nomntwana wakho ufundele ukuba ligqwetha, omnye umntwana naye afundele ubugqwetha, owakho unayo indawo yokusebenza afumane amava omsebenzi kule ofisi yakho. Ukuba aba bantwana bafundele ukuba ngoogqirha ube wena ungugqirha, owakho unayo indawo yokusebenza kule ndawo usebenzela kuyo ukuze afumane amava omsebenzi. Abantwana abangathathi-ntweni, aba bamakhaya ahlelelekileyo ...
English:
... continue to suffer even when they have graduated because
...
IsiXhosa:
...akukho fama nokuba ufunde ezolimo na kakade. Into yokuqala ekufuneka siyilungise, kukususa zonke ezi ngxaki ziyimiqobo endleleni. Ezinye zazo ziba buhlungu xa zisuswayo. Xa ufuna ukulungisa ukungalingani, ukuze bonke abantwana babe ne...
English:
...equal access to education, equal access to better diet, you have to do something and something drastically. One of them is the one hated that says, here in South Africa there is affirmative action. Here in South Africa, the land issues must be left to those who have got land to actually make decisions for us. The issue here is Black Economic Empowerment, BEE and all those that seek to promote equality, so that whatever few positions of jobs we have, we must have equal access to them.
Hon Chair and hon members, let me leave that one and state that, indeed there is a plethora of youth unemployment. There is also a litany of the programmes that we are putting forward, agreeing with the hon Deputy Minister of Employment and Labour that, we are going to work hand in glove, not only the departments out there, but all the agencies out there but those who claim to be wanting to employ our young people. This time, our must be assisted through the proliferation of incubators, Technical and Vocational Education and Training, TVET colleges so that, they are not always looked upon as those who seek to be employed, but also others must be employed by them. That opportunity is in the process of creating ... Chair, I am so happy to report to this House that, now that there is an opportunity, our people are extreme
good innovators. They can innovate, they know what to bring in, what plant and what type. When we went to Rustenburg, we met Lerato who is actually about to export a perfume ...
IsiXhosa:
... eyenziwe nguye ngemithi yelizwe lakowabo.
English:
Others are exporting especially in KwaZulu-Natal with the moringa tree, creams, soaps and everything that they are producing themselves. We are not only going to ensure that their products are of a good quality so that they are competitive in the market. We are putting also putting up trade markets, working with Salga and local municipalities, trade parks including trade hubs in other countries.
As we speak now, we know that there are those that are in automotive in Richards Bay, KwaZulu-Natal. They are exporting automotive parts to other countries from this country. This is not a miracle, this is what we deliberately and consciously do. Can I surprise everybody by saying, it was only last year when the hon President of this country called upon the Department of Small Business Development, to actually create 1000 young entrepreneurs within 100 days, and that was done.
That task was achieved. We also say, it was good to be in partnership with National Youth Development Agency, NYDA because there were many hands. That example on its own tells us that, we have reached a stage where we are ready. We are equal to the crisis. We are equal to this particular problem.
Let me also say, our people have got land, I mean the little land that is under our feet. Our mothers and sisters were never jobseekers, they were indeed producing and they were selling. They were actually marketing. They were street vendors even in our townships. I remember amadumbe, ibhatata (sweet potato), all those being sold by our people. Let me tell you, the monopoly was there. They were being harassed. Their own products were thrown away using police. They were arrested and fined so that they could not interfere with those who were in charge of the capital. To date, they can go and sell anywhere and we are assisting them with the means of production, so that they can be equal to the task.
We have agreed that all those who own wholesalers should go. We have approved 200 products that must be found on the shelves of the wholesalers of this country for our people to buy. We are also taking them back. Our people, our women -
there were only those few who were actually employed by the madams belo xesha (of that time). The time is here, ...
IsiXhosa:
... thina nabaqashi masiye phaya emasimini, siqhube.
English:
Our young people ...
IsiXhosa:
... ingxaki nje kule mfundo kuthethwa ngayo kukuba bakhe bafundiswe enye into.
English:
How do you take a boy who has been herding cattle, who is used to working in the land of their fathers ...
IsiXhosa:
...umfundise enye into angayaziyo, ekugqibeleni uthi akaphumeleli?
English:
Let education be relevant to ...
IsiXhosa:
... le ndawo uvela kuyo ...
English:
... up until you decide that you want to do something else other than what you already know. These are the reasons why today we are actually discussing this here. When we discuss, we must know that we are talking about realities. We are talking about – there is no vacuum from poverty to where we are going, there is no vacuum. We have to walk. We can’t be there without being ... This being the reason why I am saying, there is a lot of transformatory processes in order for our system to talk to our plight.
I must also remind this House that, as this government we actually agreed and confirmed that, at 15 years, you are not going to be employed. You are still pursuing a career in education, whatever you do. When we calculate this unemployment, I don’t want- because even when you are 15, we still cater for you to get that children’s grant because we believe that you still have to be at school and prepare yourself. Let our young people enjoy their youthfulness and go to university.
The demand that is increasing of young people in rural areas pursuing a tertiary education in various TVET colleges that exist in our country. We are taking incubators now from where they were in cities, we are taking them to townships. We are taking them to rural areas, so that we can start incubating those small businesses that are participating.
I am glad to say we are out there, young people. We are out there, women of this country. If you do not have a registration certificate, just talk to us. We will be putting action. You will be assisted by Companies and Intellectual Property Registration Office, Cipro within 48 hours. If you are not registered with SA Revenue Service, because you will not be compliant. If you go to that office and no one serves you, we are going to monitor that and make sure that you get your SA Revenue Service certificate. We will register you in the Department of Small Business Development, DSBD National Register to ensure that you are compliant. You are going to be compliant like them. The time of equality in doing business is going to be an equal opportunity for all of us in South Africa. [Time Expired] I thank you participants.
Mr M HLENGWA: Thank you hon House Chair, on behalf of hon Nxumalo, let’s thank all the hon members for their participation.
Mr M N NXUMALO: Thank you Chair, I just had load shedding so I don’t know whether I will be able ...[Inaudible.] Chair, if I may not be able to open my screen ...
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr C T Frolick): Hon members, it seems the hon Nxumalo is on the floor. Hon Hlengwa, let’s allow the hon Nxumalo to proceed. He doesn’t need to switch on his video. Hon Nxumalo! Hon Nxumalo are you there? We seem to have lost him again.
An HON MEMBER: Hon Hlengwa says Tshabalala must ...[Inaudible]
...
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr C T Frolick): Hon member, please we are trying to deal with the situation here. I will thus allow the hon Hlengwa to close on behalf of the hon Nxumalo.
Mr M HLENGWA: thank you House Chair. You don’t have a Deputy
Chair, they must not try and assist you in Chairing. Chair, on
behalf of the hon Nxumalo, let me thank all the members who have participated ...[Interjections] ...
Mr M N NXUMALO: I was ready.
Mr M HLENGWA: ... and to actually highlight three fundamental challenges confronting this country, of a ticking time bomb, our brothers and sisters who do not have jobs. The shortcomings in the policy interventions of government have exacerbated the problem and escalated the challenges in realities of inequality. There has to be newer and innovative thinking in how we do things. There has to be collaboration between government and the private sector in order for us to make the advances towards creating jobs for young people
This speaks to ensuring TVET colleges that are fully functional, fully resourced and are able to meet the demands of the job market. It speaks to access to education in our schools. It speaks to ensuring that, municipalities are capacitated to actually meet the demands, because all jobs are local, all economic activities are local. It speaks to renewed calls for the youth ministry which is going to be able to focus this country to the plight of the young people. It
speaks to working together in this Parliament to finding solutions.
Moreover, it speaks to the citizenry that has to step up to the plate and call for a change of government. It speaks to us gearing towards the local government elections and the 2024 national elections with a new mind-set to say that, those that have been in power since 1994 have failed. [Inaudible] ... doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results. Voting for this party which is in government now, over and over again and expecting different results is in literal, insanity.
Hon House Chair we hope that through this debate, all of us will be stimulated into new thinking. We will be stimulated into harnessing the trajectory of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and understand that it is not just about dressing up in an overall, wear costume as we see some Ministers do, but actually about doing the work. There has to be serious changes on how we approach the whole jobs question in South Africa.
In conclusion Chair, we are of course settled with the challenge of student funding in our institutions of higher
learning. We are calling for renewed and extreme restraint on the part of the police force. It cannot be that, every fees must fall protest or march, which are legitimate calls by students which are characterised now, by the violence being meted out by police. We have seen this in 2015, 2016 and 2017, and it’s now rearing its ugly head again. We are also saying, le t us sit down and fix these problems around the table and find credible, functional and sustainable solutions to this very, very real challenge.
The IFP thanks all those that participated, and hope that we come out of this with understanding that, things have got to change. They must change. The situation is very, very desperate. Chair, it is quite unfortunate that we had a jobs debate about young people and the ruling party could not field one young person to articulate the challenges of young people. Thank you Chair.
IsiXhosa:
ILUNGU ELIHLONIPHEKILEYO: Ubuthetha kakuhle, uyayimosha ngoku.
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr C T Frolick): Hon members before I adjourn the session, I just want to deal with a point of order that was made earlier by the hon Van Damme, on remarks that
were made during the debate by hon Zungula. We have subsequently checked the speech of the member, and also what exactly what was said. What the hon member said was an opinion, and a view that he was expressing on his behalf and on behalf of his party. There is certainly nothing inciting from the speech of the member that can be detected. As such, that point of order is dismissed. That brings us to the end of this virtual sitting. This virtual sitting is now adjourned.
Debate concluded.
The mini-plenary session rose at 17:27
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