Ramaphosa promises two million jobs for youth in the next 10 years

Within the next 10 years, President Cyril Ramaphosa will ensure that no South African goes hungry.

On Thursday, as he delivered his state of the nation address, Ramaphosa gave his administration tight timeline to eradicate poverty in the country.

He set five “ambitious” goals for his administration which includes growing the economy faster than the country’s population, employing 2 million young people, empowering school’s curriculum where a 10-year-old would be able to read as well as halving crime.

“Let us make these commitments now – to ourselves and to each other – knowing that they will stretch our resources and capabilities, but understanding that if we achieve these five goals, we will have fundamentally transformed our society,” said Ramaphosa.

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“We set these ambitious goals not despite the severe difficulties of the present, but because of them. We set these goals so that the decisions we take now are bolder and we act with greater urgency.”

Unemployment rose to 27.6% in the first quarter with people between 15 and 34 years being the most affected, an issue Ramaphosa declared a national crisis.

In addition to dealing with this, Ramaphosa said his administration would also look into reducing the cost of living.

“In addition to creating employment and other economic opportunities, this means that we must strengthen the social wage and reduce the cost of living.

“It means we must improve the affordability, safety and integration of commuter transport for low income households,” he said.