MMUSI MAIMANE: Put at least one job in every home to grow SA’s economy

Last weekend the political party I lead, Build One SA (Bosa), launched its national election campaign at the State Theatre in Pretoria. In celebrating one year in existence Bosa presented a road map for how to build a thriving economy and radically reduce unemployment in its first 1,000 days in government.

This comes a month before finance minister Enoch Godongwana tables the medium-term budget policy statement (MTBPS) before parliament on November 1. The National Treasury — spearheaded by Godongwana — has been proactively “socialising” a number of solutions at his disposal to mitigate against the crisis in the midterm budget.

In briefings to cabinet colleagues, social partners and the media the minister has in effect told all and sundry that the state is fast running out of money. The cause is well known by all: the rank mismanagement of public funds buttressed by the pernicious acts of corruption operating at all levels of government. Today this extends into the homes of struggling South Africans as the taps run dry. 

In a presentation at Spier Estate in Stellenbosch it was again revealed that a key challenge for the Treasury is how to raise an extra R42bn to cover the R350 Covid Social Relief of Distress grant if it were to be increased per inflation to R365. The likely remedy for this shortfall is an increase in the value-added tax (VAT) rate to 16% or 17% from the current 15%. This would raise R24.5bn or R49.4bn respectively. 

However, the bottom line for our economy is there is no medium- to long-term viability of raising taxes to fund social grants. Government spends more than R400bn per year on social grants. In context, that’s about two-fifths of the national budget. The corollary is that too few individuals and companies pay the overwhelming majority of tax as 48% of individual taxpayers in SA earn less than R6,700 per month.

Ultimately, the best remedy to address struggling households is to have more people in jobs. Currently some 52.4% of households’ main source of income is salaries and wages. This needs to be increased, and to do so we must have at least one employed person in every home. With an estimated 18-million households in SA, averaging 3.3 persons per household, to put a job in every home will require at least 2-million new jobs. 

To create jobs requires a growing economy. To foster this, we will pursue six high impact avenues: 

• Establish Township Special Economic Zones (TSEZs) and allocate R200bn to generate new jobs and prosperity for disadvantaged citizens. This initiative aims to cultivate new sectors of the economy by investing in infrastructure, enhancing citizens’ skills and supporting entrepreneurial ventures. In addition, incentivising investment into the manufacturing sector will yield fast returns, as we align current skills to current economic demand.
• Expand the public works programme to provide opportunities for unemployed individuals of working age to engage in community service projects, with an emphasis on transparent procurement for infrastructure development. Unemployed individuals will have the option to enrol in paid community service projects within walking distance of home, focusing on various tasks such as community cleanups, patrols, or assisting in infrastructure repairs and construction. These programmes will pay at the existing public works programme rate and provide at least one day of paid work per week. 
• Launch a voluntary National Civilian Service year, offering paid work experience for high school graduates. This one-year programme will serve as a national internship or learnership, imparting valuable skills and aiding the transition from school to the workforce. Participants will gain practical experience in community healthcare, basic education or policing, earning a stipend during this period. 
• Introduce new empowerment policies and establish a Jobs & Justice Venture Capital Fund. Businesses will contribute to this fund to support empowering initiatives, managed by financial experts rather than politicians. The fund will ensure genuine empowerment by supporting initiatives that bridge the gap between potential and empowerment. 
• Increase and diversify the energy mix by implementing build-own-operate models for energy and enhance capacity in renewable energy sectors including solar, gas and hydro. Added to splitting Eskom into two and opening up the grid to independent power producers, resolving the energy crisis is central to growing the economy.
• Maximise trade by addressing the issues plaguing Transnet, expediting public-private partnerships at underperforming ports, and opening up the Southern African Development Community region for increased intra-Africa trade.

Our strategy for economic growth and a substantial reduction of unemployment is anchored in the need for reform. I am engaging in extensive consultations with business organisations to understand the aspects of existing labour laws that hinder employment growth, necessitating reform. We aim to identify the best approaches to incentivise job creation and skills development, and drive initiatives that promote job creation in both the private and public sectors, aligning with the skill sets of the nearly 12-million unemployed South Africans. 

The most effective way to grow the economy, create wealth, broaden the tax base, reduce government spending on social support and empower people to be upwardly mobile, is to put at least one job in every home. That is what I am pursuing at the centre of my election campaign. 

• Maimane is Bosa leader.