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The Democratic Alliance (DA) and the Federation of Unions of South Africa (FEDUSA) met on Tuesday morning to discuss the implementation of the youth wage subsidy. We arranged this meeting because both organisations recognised that we have a moral obligation to put the interests of the unemployed first.

We had a productive meeting and reached agreement on several important points.

Most importantly, we both support the youth wage subsidy as a means to create jobs for unemployed young South Africans. Both parties are eager for its urgent implementation. We reached agreement on several key points:

Firstly, FEDUSA expressed support for our youth wage subsidy programme as implemented by the Western Cape Government. FEDUSA also pledged its support for the DA’s application to the Jobs Fund for additional resources in order to increase the scope and impact of the youth wage subsidy programme in the Western Cape. FEDUSA further noted that other provincial governments should consider implementing similar programmes across the country.

Secondly, both parties reiterated their previous calls for the youth wage subsidy to be implemented as soon as possible and agreed to approach this process with the utmost urgency.

Thirdly, both organisations committed themselves to continue working for the implementation of the youth wage subsidy in whatever way they can.

FEDUSA will use its presence at NEDLAC to address the concerns around the design of the programme and try to break the deadlock unfairly imposed by other labour federations. The DA lauds FEDUSA for its constructive approach to this issue and for recognising that we must put the needs of the unemployed first. Other labour federations should consider following this example.

The bottom line is that both FEDUSA and the DA want to see this policy implemented.

We are doing this because we know that the youth wage subsidy will benefit hundreds of thousands of young South Africans. We urge all labour federations and other stakeholders to act in the best interests of the country and support the implementation of the youth wage subsidy now.