Newly-appointed finance minister Enoch Godongwana has made his position on a basic income grant (BIG) clear, saying he would rather use the funds to help employ black youth, rather than deliver another handout.
Speaking to the Sunday Times, Godongwana said that a more thought-out approach was required to tackle the country’s high youth unemployment rate.
“People are missing the point: about 4.2-million of these people that are unemployed — using the narrow definition — are young people between 15 and 35 years. My argument is that we must invest in them. Even the amount we may spend could be more than a grant,” he said.
He said that these young people cannot be placed into a cycle of dependence, with the BIG creating reliance rather than addressing fundamental issues affecting youth unemployment.
“What we need to do is invest in skilling these kids, and obviously, they will have some
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