By Dylan Bettencourt
- Gwede Mantashe says South Africans expect the government to provide jobs instead of using education funding and other support already available.
- Busisiwe Mkhwebane says Mantashe does not understand the poverty and unemployment many families face every day.
For many South Africans without work, getting a job is not about choice. It is about what jobs exist.
Mineral Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe upset many people after saying South Africans are waiting for the government to do everything for them.
Speaking to SABC News before the African National Congress birthday celebrations, Mantashe said the ANC has created opportunities, but people are not using them.
He pointed to funding for university students and social grants as examples of support provided by the government.
“We created a passive society,” Mantashe said. He compared South Africans to people in China, who he said work hard and take risks.
He criticised what he called a “theory of delivery”. He said some people expect the state to provide while they “sit in the sun” doing nothing.
Mantashe gave an example of a young woman from the Eastern Cape who qualified as a pharmacist through the National Student Financial Aid Scheme but could not find work.
He told her the ANC had given her a “fishing rod” and should not be expected to catch the fish for her.
He also spoke about a maize farming project in his hometown of Cala. He said young people refused to join because they expected a government handout.
“They didn’t want to be part of the improvement,” Mantashe said.
He said when he was younger, the government did not bring jobs to people, and that this way of thinking must change.
Former Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane, now with the uMkhonto Wesizwe party, criticised Mantashe on social media.
She said he is out of touch with the poverty and unemployment many South Africans live with.
Mantashe also defended Black Economic Empowerment, saying it is about building Black owned businesses, not receiving “gifts called wealth”.
Pictured above: Mineral Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe.
Image source: ANC
