South Africa faces challenges ranging from poverty, inequality, poor access to adequate education and few entrepreneurship opportunities. It is mind-boggling to have to deal with irregularities and improper awarding of tenders for self-enrichment in this context.
"An urgent meeting was held this morning [Monday] with Cosatu on issues relating to youth incentive scheme. There will be no blood on the floor about this," party secretary general Gwede Mantashe told journalists in Johannesburg.
The trade union federation was reported to be opposing the youth wage subsidy for fear that it would see older workers pushed out of jobs.
"There is a general agreement on this approach by the ANC and Cosatu," Mantashe said
The scheme would target young people, young graduates and students in tertiary institutions who needed to complement formal study with practical work, he added.
DA picket
The Democratic Alliance held a picket at the Union Buildings in September 2012, calling on President Jacob Zuma to back the youth wage subsidy.
The memorandum demanded that Zuma "urgently announce the implementation of the subsidy", which he had committed to in his State of the Nation Address in 2010.
According to the DA, the subsidy could have benefitted 200 000 young people and created 80 000 new jobs had it been implemented in April 2012.
The party said that the proposed job-seekers grant "misdiagnoses the problem". It argues that the problem is not that it takes too long for people to find jobs but that there are not enough jobs in the country.
The ANC flighted the idea of a job-seekers grant at its policy conference in June, partly as a response to submissions made by the ANC Youth League and the National Youth Development Agency. – Sapa