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In his State of the Nation address this Thursday the President needs to confirm that the implementation of the Youth Wage Subsidy will not be delayed past the 1 April 2012 target date announced by the Finance Minister in his Budget last year.

Holding the line in this way is the only way to give National Treasury the political cover they need to sidestep Cosatu’s oppostition and finally implement this policy that will help to provide jobs for hundreds of thousands of unemployed young South Africans

Two years ago, in the 2010 State of the Nation address, President Jacob Zuma announced a new Youth Wage Subsidy policy. Shortly thereafter the Finance Minister fleshed out the proposal in the 2010 Budget.

Since then, loud public opposition from Cosatu has severally delayed the introduction of the subsidy. The Democratic Alliance has calculated that this delay has so far denied more than 260 000 young South Africans the benefits of the policy (www.youthwagesubsidynow.org).

The policy is currently stuck at Nedlac, where the labour representatives are allegedly refusing to discuss it. This appears to confirm last year’s alarming admission by Treasury Director General Lesetja Kganyago to the Sunday Times that, although Treasury’s document appears to present the subsidy as a definite plan which will be implemented from 1 April 2012, it was “actually a proposal and not yet a policy of government”.

Nedlac has had enough time to consider the proposal. It is now time for the President to demonstrate who is in charge by re-affirming the implementation date of the subsidy in his State of the Nation address. If he does not do so, he risks backtracking on his commitment to tackle youth unemployment, which currently stands at 37% (more than 60% if discouraged work seekers are included).