Hon House Chairperson, hon Minister, your Deputy Minister and hon members, South Africans have indeed come a long way since the advent of our democracy, but this transition remains by and large incomplete, especially for the majority of our citizens who remain without jobs. Poverty has declined, but inequality remains extreme and the main reason for this is simple - its lack of employment! Jobs are necessary and critical if we want to build a prosperous society and inclusive social contract.
With an official unemployment in 26,7% and widespread youth unemployment making up a large portion of this percentage South Africa remains on a veritable knife-edge. In this respect, initiatives such as the Youth Employment Service, which forms part of the SA small or medium enterprise, SME fund, must be supported. Through this fund, which partners with government, it aims to place a million young people in our workplace. More initiatives of this kind must be implemented so that we may not only provide our youth with avenues and opportunities for employment, but also place greater impetus on the IFP aligned ideals of self-help and self- reliance.
Programmes such as the Expanded Public Works Programme, EPWP, remain nothing more than jobs for cadres. They are nothing more than mere
tick boxes for government to spin false success stories around job creation. In this respect, to many programs remain unevaluated, especially in respect of labour-market interventions.
The mismatch between skills and what is taught at our institutions of higher learning and specifically our sector education and training authority, Setas' and the requirements and demand from the workplace also remain cause for concern. One must only look at the state of our departments in respect of vacancies to confirm this truth, which in reality, not only translates as potential wasted opportunities for employment, but also in respect of wider service delivery issues for our citizenry and adds impetus to our continuing low-economic growth.
Many South Africans with disability remain prejudiced and disadvantaged in the workplace. The IFP would like to see not only equal pay for equal work in respect of gender, but also greater gender transformation in the workplace, which would include policies that address South Africans with disability.
Chairperson, our society remains highly unequal, with inequality ever expanding. This does not build resilience, but rather fragility and as a knock-on effect. We see the endemic corruption that has
captured our Public Service. These are nothing but the illegal manifestations of resource contestation and only further entrench and discourage investment which cycles back into no new jobs being created and economic growth stifled.
Chairperson, the exclusion from labour markets only leads to depressed wage income the opportunity cost of which could have been used to create wealth. We need to see active labour policies created to raise the employability of our labour force and especially our youth. The bridge we must cross in this respect is to create jobs which allow our youth to apprentice first and garner the requisite experience and then the transition into the labour market. This will not only improve skills sets, but also increase earning potential and employability especially in respect of low-wage earners.
Lastly, I would like to touch on wage bargaining and the minimum wage in particular. This is a double-edged sword and such intervention may have the unintended consequences of people losing employment rather than raising income and reducing inequality. The IFP will continue in this Sixth Parliament to pursue sector specific minimum wage levels rather than a national minimum wage. In the interests of a working South Africa and subject to the points of
concern raised here today, the IFP would like to support this Budget Vote. Hon Minister, thank you. [Applause.]