South Africans are right to be angry at comments made by ANC chair Gwede Mantashe in an interview about youth unemployment.
Mantashe, the mineral resources & petroleum minister, should apologise rather than attempt to spin away the consequences of his insensitive comments.
In a wide-ranging interview with the SABC, Mantashe sought to play down high unemployment among the youth. He suggested that youths were sitting by, waiting for the government to offer them jobs — implying that they were not applying for available jobs in the public sector.
Mantashe has refused to apologise despite calls by the party’s youth wing, the ANC Youth League, for him to explain himself.
He has offered to explain his remarks to party secretary-general Fikile Mbalula, who also regards the comments as inappropriate. Mbalula has threatened to reprimand his political senior if he fails to clarify the issue.
Mantashe’s remarks are not only inappropriate, but they also show him as a leader who is tone deaf to the realities of South Africa — especially its youth. This is shocking and grossly insensitive.
Mantashe’s remarks are not only inappropriate, but they also show him as a leader who is tone deaf to the realities of South Africa — especially its youth.
Even before the advent of the fourth industrial revolution and its attendant threat to jobs, the odds were stacked against South Africa’s young people. The education system is not producing graduates fit for the job market.
Facts on the ground fail to support Mantashe’s glib assertions. A year ago, for example, the SAPS advertised 5,000 trainee jobs. About 1-million applications were received.
The same picture plays itself out across various provinces for the few available entry-level jobs. At the few construction sites and factories still operating, signs with “no jobs available” are commonplace.
None of this corroborates Mantashe’s narrative of laziness and entitlement.
Mantashe’s remarks failed to mention the negative impact of the ANC’s deployment policy. Through this controversial job reservation policy, the ANC promotes the placement of its members rather than the best qualified South Africans.
The ANC’s dominance of the political space over much of the past three decades has meant that the public service has become the extension of the party’s patronage network. With its current electoral decline, this patronage is imperilled.
Mantashe also failed to use the interview to acknowledge the incidence of corruption which has spread under the ANC’s watch. It is one thing for the state — its departments, agencies and state-owned corporations — to advertise available vacancies. It is quite another thing to only advertise for compliance purposes, which means jobs are advertised for candidates already lined up for roles.
Mantashe also failed to use the interview to acknowledge the incidence of corruption which has spread under the ANC’s watch.
Surely, Mantashe must be aware of this.
For a skilled politician who boasts a master’s degree in economics from a good South African public university, Mantashe has done himself a disservice.
Each quarter, Statistics South Africa, the official statistics agency, publishes unemployment numbers. These include a category for discouraged job seekers; in other words, people who have stopped looking for employment.
None of this suggests laziness. It is a sign of desperation. This should keep Mantashe, as a serving minister, awake at night and not offer him fodder for his lazy ivory tower analysis.
Mantashe failed to mention why ANC leaders are sending their children to elite foreign education institutions for better opportunities. Better still, he failed to mention that thousands of white youths leave the country each year for greener pastures abroad.
They are not lazy. They are being realistic.
What is tragic about the whole Mantashe saga is what has followed it. Only the Youth League has spoken sense by calling him out. The ANC’s high-ups, including its president, have been radio silent.
As well as crime and corruption, youth unemployment is the biggest threat to South Africa’s social stability.
Minimally, Mantashe must apologise without reservation. If he doesn’t, he should be publicly rebuked both by his party and his boss, Cyril Ramaphosa.
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