While the country is soon heading to the polls, the IFP hosted a rally as a form of strengthening grass-roots support and garnering engagement from locals.
The rally on Sunday at KwaMakhasa Stadium under Big 5 Hlabisa Local Municipality, in KwaZulu-Natal, was led by IFP deputy president Inkosi Mzamo Buthelezi and formed part of the party’s unwavering commitment to grass-roots engagement and community empowerment.
Lamenting a stunted national government, Buthelezi said the IFP was the sole party that understood and empathised with the plight of unemployed graduates.
Henceforth, as part of the IFP manifesto, Buthelezi said the party vowed to render jobless graduates R3 000 social grants.
“The Star” spoke with the party regarding a feasible financial plan to ensure execution of the proposed unemployment grants.
IFP spokesperson on higher education and training Sanele Zondo explained that the money to fund the grants will be sourced from downsizing the Cabinet, eliminating duplicate governmental departments and ending corruption.
Zondo continued to say the party had an effective financial plan to ensure that funds were allocated correctly and therefore partnership with the private sector under corporate social responsibility programmes was set to secure jobs for graduates for every financial year.
He further added that this will not lead the state to financial instability. “But, we understand that this will require efforts from the government and private sector. The ultimate goal is to ensure that we have assisted skilled graduates into becoming self-reliant and sustainable individuals who are able to contribute to the economy,” said Zondo.
The motivation behind the introduction of these unemployment grants was that: “Many students inherit debt after they graduate, or their families find themselves in debt after assisting with student fees. Graduates will need money to apply for jobs, think about travel fees for job interviews, or money for printing CVs for job applications – they cannot do this without some form of financial assistance.”
As the party is gunning for KZN governance, Zondo reassured that the grants were not the party’s means to garner votes, and discourage skills development. “This money will aid graduates on their path to secure employment, after they have already taken the first step to liberate themselves through getting education.”
Additionally, the grants will be exclusive to KZN graduates if the IFP provincially assumes government. “However, if we govern elsewhere, we will extend the same policies to those areas,” said Zondo.
The Star