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WATCH: Mixed reaction as Ramaphosa tells unemployed woman to ‘keep searching’ for job (VIDEO)
Ramaphosa's response has divided South Africans - some say there was nothing he could have done, while others say it was disappointing.
President Cyril Ramaphosa. Picture: African National Congress/X
President Cyril Ramaphosa‘s ‘Tintswalo’ analogy has come back to haunt him after meeting an unemployed woman during the African National Congress’ (ANC) election campaign in Orange Farm at the weekend.
The Tintswalo analogy was introduced by Ramaphosa in his State of the Nation Address (Sona) speech in February to highlight the progress that South Africa made in the past 30 years.
READ MORE: South Africans use Ramaphosa’s Tintswalo analogy against him
At the weekend, Ramaphosa met a Tintswalo whose real name is Slindokuhle Khoza, a BA Communications graduate from the North West University.
Khoza, the first of four children, told Radio 702 on Tuesday that she graduated in 2022 and has been looking for a job since to help her unemployed mother.
She said she heard that the president would be in her area and decided to join the campaign in the hope that someone would help her find a job.
“I was every excited. I thought to myself: Let me go there, maybe something will happen. I thought the conversation would go differently from how it went. I thought maybe someone would hook me up,” she said.
“At my age, we thought I would be the one to support my family. Before I spoke to the president, three people advised me to wear an ANC T-shirt. One of them even took my contact details.”
In the video that has been circulating on social media, Ramaphosa can be heard asking Khoza about her qualifications and age.
ALSO READ: ‘Democracy’s child’: Ramaphosa touts ANC’s 30-year track record at Sona 2024
“So, you’re looking for work now?” he asks her, to which she responds: “Yes I am. I’ve been searching online.”
“Yeah, you must keep searching. You must also register on the SA Youth Mobi app,” was Ramaphosa’s response, which has divided South Africans.
Watch a video of Ramaphosa and Slindokuhle
While some said there was nothing Ramaphosa could have done for the job seeker, others said the president’s response was disappointing.
‘Job creation our priority’
Addressing the Orange Farm community, Ramaphosa said the ruling party would aggressively tackle the issue of unemployment in the country.
“The most important priority of the 7th administration which will be led by the African National Congress and as outlined in the Peoples Manifesto is job creation. This is a our top priority – creating jobs, giving dignity back to our people, making sure we support the livelihood of our people – that is our main focus,” Ramaphosa said.
Watch Ramaphosa address the issue of unemployment
“The other accompanying aspect of our manifesto, is that we need to address the issue of the rising level of income. Living costs keep rising and we need to address that. We also need to pay close attention to the delivery of services. We need to ensure that our people get proper services so that they lead lives of dignity and in line with our constitution.”
ALSO READ: Sona 2024: Ramaphosa says more households have access to internet than a decade ago
