Ramaphosa hits back at 'stupid analysis' of his job stimulus package

President Cyril Ramaphosa used the first day of the SA Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) national general council meeting to hit back at those criticising his presidential employment stimulus.

He told those in attendance that the meeting took place at an important time for SA, the education system and the teaching profession.

“While the Covid-19 pandemic has severely tested the capacity of the state and the resilience of our people, it has also required us to craft new ways of doing things and has opened up new pathways to progress,” he said.

The economic and social affect of the pandemic has been devastating, significantly worsening the country’s employment crisis where 2-million jobs were lost in one year, said the president.

“To address the challenge of youth unemployment while the economy recovers, we established the presidential employment stimulus to provide work and livelihood opportunities, mainly to the unemployed.”

Reiterating what he said in his weekly letter on Monday, Ramaphosa said the initiative has now reached more than a million participants.

“More than 60% of these participants are women and more than 80% are young people. Alongside the creation of these opportunities, the presidential employment stimulus has also been making a difference in several areas of development.”

One of the most significant areas of affect has been in schools, he said. “In the largest programme supported by the stimulus, more than 600,000 young people have been placed as school assistants in more than 22,000 schools.

“The reports we have received from school management, teachers and other stakeholders have said that these school assistants have made a positive contribution to the learning environment in schools.”

He said this had been the largest programme to take place in one period in the country’s history.

“There are others who always want to look at the dark side of life, who have dismissed this initiative and said could you say that somebody has had a job when you employ them in your garden for a day?

“That is the most stupid analysis I have ever heard and that came from a politician from one of the parties without understanding the affect that many of you have felt about these assistants who came into your schools during the period of Covid-19.”

Ramaphosa added that not only have these young people been empowered and given meaningful work experience, but many of them have also discovered a passion for teaching and now aim to study further.

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