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There is a strong view that President Cyril Ramaphosa spoke above our heads last night during his state of the nation address.
Some people claim to have zoned out because of the view that his speech did not talk directly to the working class, the unemployed and the poor who feel and live the real life effects of the issues he was supposed to talk about.
I, personally, have no problem with the “dreamy tone” of the speech. Such speeches are hardly ever plans. They are aspirational in tone.
It is not speeches that deliver policies. It is programmes and projects. Government policies, programmes and projects are there. We just need to work on our administrative and technical capacity to give them meaning to the hopeless and destitute populations of our country. It is easy to discuss policy and all its flaws but I think as a country we should take it a step further.
The discussion should move from one of policy pros and cons to that of implementation. We should move from asking ourselves what to do. It is already there. The discussion should be one on how best to do it with the urgency that it deserves. The president spoke very fondly of the Youth Employment Service (among other measures to battle youth unemployment) and that is good and well. However, the discussion ought not to end there. How do we make it work best? How do we give it meaning not only to a young black person in Gauteng but also to one in Mthatha, Lusikisiki, Mashashane, and deep rural Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal.
How do we make sure that graduates are not only in these programmes for statistical purposes and box-ticking but to be skilled and equipped not only to enter but to succeed in the world of work? How do we protect our young people from abuse and exploitation from these companies and how do we create an inspiring and conducive environment where our young people can reach their aspirations, goals and dreams? How do we provide the correct and necessary mentorship? How do we better compensate and inculcate hard work and life-long learning?
Those are just some of the questions that all of us as a country should be looking for answers to.
It is also quite interesting that a lot of the discussion is on the education system failing to provide the necessary skills to succeed in the labour market. Some suggest that the key reason for youth graduate unemployment is the mismatch of skills with the demands of the labour market. Some have been bold to argue that there is a disjuncture between what our education system produces and what the economy needs in terms of skills. I believe that there is a different way to look at this.
I argue that additional to the above view, there is also a failure on the side of the market to absorb and make meaningful use of the overabundance of skills that are out there already, especially in the case of university educated unemployed young people. That can of course be attributed to a stagnant economy – an economy that is not growing thus leading to a lack of demand for the skills that are out there already and that has a spill over effect that continues to perpetuate unemployment.
Basic economics informs us that labour is one of the most important factors of production. This tells us that we cannot expect to win the fight against unemployment if we do not have a “productive economy”. That is why “producer industries” need to thrive in South Africa if we are to succeed as a nation.
A nation that produces little to nothing is bound to have high unemployment. A nation with investor policy uncertainty cannot attract investment.
The economy cannot and will not grow at the pace we desire if we do not do some real thinking as citizens in our respective fields of expertise and occupations. The real questions are not on what to do. They are on how best to do it. Each of us has a responsibility to respond to those in whatever capacity we find ourselves in.
- Gcina Mtengwane is a lecturer in the department of Community Development at the University of the Free State’s Qwaqwa Campus
