'Anti-youth, anti-poor!' ANCYL and students' union slam DTIC over student debt listing plan
The African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) has come out guns blazing against a proposed amendment to the National Credit Act.
Image: Brendan Magaar / Independent Newspapers
The African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) has come out guns blazing against a proposed amendment to the National Credit Act.
This follows proposals by the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC) to amend the Act in a way that would allow credit bureaus to list education-related debt, including student loans, on individuals’ credit profiles.
In a statement issued to the media, ANCYL Secretary General Mntuwoxolo Ngudle labelled the move as “anti-poor, anti-youth, and anti-progress.”
"The Youth League rejects this anti-poor and anti-youth proposal with the contempt it deserves. Such a move would tighten the debt trap around young people from working-class and black communities, who already carry the heaviest burden of exclusion," Ngudle said.
"Effectively lock out graduates and students from accessing opportunities in key sectors, including the financial services industry, where blacklisting by credit bureaus is a barrier to employment".
Ngudle further argued that the proposal directly undermines the government’s stated commitment to youth development and economic transformation.
"Instead of punishing the youth for accessing education, the government must be pursuing policies that expand access, write off historic student debt, and ensure financial inclusion".
"Listing student debt with credit bureaus will only deepen generational poverty and block the very transformation agenda that the democratic state is meant to champion".
The youth league also called for the immediate withdrawal of the proposal and demanded meaningful consultation with youth, student bodies, and civil society on any future changes to the credit regime.
Meanwhile, the South African Union of Students (SAUS) has also slammed the proposed amendment, warning that it could worsen youth unemployment and further exclude students from the economy.
“The proposal on its own is anti-progressive, anti-poor, anti-middle class, anti-those who come from unwell families, and it seeks further to exclude the young people who are literally from poor backgrounds from accessing and being active participants of the economy,” SAUS spokesperson Thato Masekoa said, according to the SABC.
IOL has reached out to the department for comment on the proposed amendments and will update the story once a response has been received.
IOL Business