Mpumalanga - The ANC's national general council, which started in Durban on Monday, needs to find solutions to South Africa's burgeoning youth unemployment crisis, according to Tax Commissioner, Oupa Magashula. While he says tax money must and is being used to help, this must be done constructively.
"I think it will be a really interesting debate - but the main thing is to resolve the debilitating structural unemployment in the country," Magashula said during an Ernst and Young Tax Conference at White River, in Mpumalanga.
He said youth unemployment in SA - which is more than double the average adult rate - is the worst in Africa. The recent Mozambique riots (over high food prices) are a "stark warning" about what can happen if this is not resolved.
"We need to use tax money constructively to create opportunities for young people to find employment, else we will be pushed into the abyss," he cautioned. He feels it would lead to the demise of democracy in the country is it was not sorted out.
"I think it will be a really interesting debate - but the main thing is to resolve the debilitating structural unemployment in the country," Magashula said during an Ernst and Young Tax Conference at White River, in Mpumalanga.
He said youth unemployment in SA - which is more than double the average adult rate - is the worst in Africa. The recent Mozambique riots (over high food prices) are a "stark warning" about what can happen if this is not resolved.
"We need to use tax money constructively to create opportunities for young people to find employment, else we will be pushed into the abyss," he cautioned. He feels it would lead to the demise of democracy in the country is it was not sorted out.