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It’s painful to be a young, gifted and black female when opportunities are inaccessible: IFP

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Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) Chief Whip Narend Singh says it’s painful to be a young, gifted and black female when labour and economic opportunities are inaccessible.

He says more than 40% of black women were unemployed last year. He was reflecting on the promises made in President Cyril Ramaphosa’s previous State of the Nation Addresses (SONA), highlighting how unemployment has increased.

Singh was speaking during the Joint SONA Debate in the Cape Town City Hall.

“By the third quarter of 2021, the official unemployment rate among  Black South African Women was 41.5%. Our women still bear the brunt of economic crisis that is simply not being handled correctly. In the mind of Honourable Buthelezi and the caucus leaders, we hear the refrain of Nina Simone calling us to celebrate being young gifted and black. But there is pain in being young gifted and black when there is no place for you in the labour market and opportunities in the economy are inaccessible. To be young, female and black is to stack the odds even higher against social and economic justice,” says Singh.

Pan African Congress of Azania (PAC) leader Mzwanele Nyontsho has described Ramaphosa as one of the six billionaires in a country which has 60 million poor people.

He’s criticised Ramaphosa for his recent announcement that job creation is the responsibility of the private sector, while government should only create a conducive environment for the private sector to create jobs.

“You have already said the government is not an employer. You are handing over the responsibility to the private sector that is itself still untransformed and largely lily-white. Occupied Azania or  South Africa for you … six billionaires and 60 million poor people. And you are one of the billionaires. The populace is increasingly losing trust in the leadership largely because of the rampant maleficence and lies that comes out of the pockets and in suites in weeks and on television and radio stations,” says Nyontsho.

The SONA Debate is continuing the City Hall:

 

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