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Government's current strategies not at a sufficient scale to address unemployment and poverty, Ramaphosa tells Cosatu

Details

ramaphosa2Fin24 reports that addressing labour federation Cosatu's seventh central committee on Monday, President Cyril Ramaphosa underlined the extent of the fiscal crisis the government was facing. Current interventions were not enough, he stressed.

"Unemployment is beyond a crisis level, and it is clear that much more needs to be done. Our current strategies are not sufficient scale to address the extent of the problem," the president stated. While government had unlocked a stimulus package equal to 10% of the country's GDP, it was time for SA to follow in the footsteps of other countries and rethink its economic approach, Ramaphosa advised. Job creation was a top priority, he added. But extending social support similar to the social relief of distress grant should also be considered. Ramaphosa explained as follows: "Subject to long-term affordability, serious consideration should be given to extending further support to the unemployed, and those who are structurally marginalised, possibly in the form of an extension of the Covid-19 social relief of distress grant, targeted food-poverty-line support. This necessarily requires better alignment and linkages between social security policies and labour market policies so that beneficiaries of social support can move more readily into employment." Ramaphosa added that infrastructure development was the flywheel of economic growth and had to be upscaled to meet the needs of the economy through renewable energy, mining, water, human settlements, health, education, transport and digital infrastructure. But corruption would have to be tackled, he warned.

  • Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Khulekani Magubane at Fin24


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