ANC aims for 14% unemployed

The ANC has set an ambitious target for President Cyril Ramaphosa’s government to halve SA’s unemployment rate from 27% to 14% over the next five years.

The target was set by the governing party’s national executive committee lekgotla, which met in Pretoria over three days at the weekend to draft the party’s programme for the year.

The lekgotla’s outcome is set to be deliberated at the cabinet lekgotla, which will inform Ramaphosa’s state-of-thenation address and the budget to be delivered by finance minister Tito Mboweni.

Party secretary-general Ace Magashule said on Tuesday that the government would declare a “three-shift economy” to increase employment prospects for the millions of unemployed citizens.

This ambitious commitment comes on the same day that Statistics SA announced the country’s GDP had shrunk by 3.2% in the first quarter of 2019, the biggest such drop in a decade.

Moreover, youth unemployment has continued to rise at an alarming rate in recent years and now stands at a staggering 55%, the highest in the world.

But the ANC is confident that unemployment can be reduced, with Magashule comparing SA to China, which has vowed to end poverty by 2020.

Magashule said an industrialisation strategy was in place to help unlock the economy, particularly in sectors such as automotive, clothing, gas, chemicals, plastics, renewables, steel, the oceans economy and agriculture, among others.

“We will get government to declare a three-shift economy to increase prospects of employment, especially among young people,” Magashule said.

“Working together with labour and business, a three-shift system will result in an economy that does not sleep.

“The lekgotla agreed to reduce unemployment from 27% to 14% within the next five years while focusing on skilling and reskilling 3.4-million South Africans.

“Government will support strategic economic zones with the focus on unlocking the economic potential of each zone and therefore creating sustainable jobs.”

The lekgotla also resolved to amend the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA), Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA) and the Public Service Act to fast-track service delivery, he said.

The party would also move to localise the tender system for the benefit of small towns.

Magashule said the NEC lekgotla was of the view that laws such as the MFMA and PFMA were stifling and impeding service delivery, and thus should be reviewed and amended.

Also, rand flight from certain provinces through tenders given to companies based in other provinces should be stopped to create jobs and stimulate the economies of small towns, he said.

The ANC lekgotla further resolved to expand the mandate of the SA Reserve Bank.

This, according to Magashule, meant that the central bank should also look into issues of economic growth and employment.

“It was agreed that all deployed will ensure that resolutions of the 54th national conference will be fully implemented and in this regard the lekgotla agreed to expand the mandate of the SA Reserve Bank beyond price stability to include growth and employment,” he said.

In a tweet on Tuesday night, finance minister Tito Mboweni said: “Government sets the mandate for the SARB. There is no quantitative easing thing here.

“The primary mandate of the SA Reserve Bank is to ‘protect the value of the currency in the interest of balanced economic growth and development’.”

Magashule also suggested that SA copy Rwanda and fire under-performing ministers.

He said the lekgotla agreed that there must be rigorous performance-monitoring.

Asked how different this would be from previous performance agreements that ministers signed with the president, he said there would be consequences this time.

“The president is going to be very harsh and we are going to support the president.

“We will be calling people and saying‚ ‘You are failing‚ you are lazy and we do not see you moving’.

“If SA wants to succeed‚ ministers and deputy ministers must be given tasks with timeframes.”