President Jacob Zuma
South African President Jacob Zuma on Tuesday told Parliament that rampant unemployment had its roots in apartheid because the white regime denied black people education.
In response to a question from Democratic Alliance (DA) finance spokesperson David Maynier, Zuma replied that joblessness was a global problem but, like inequality, it had a particular context here. The official unemployment figure is at over 26 percent.
“It is because of the political historic problems of SA, part of the people of the unemployed are unemployed because the Apartheid system did not allow the majority of this country to be skilled so that they are ready to work, ready to create jobs,” he said during a quarterly presidential question session in the National Assembly.
“That is why South Africa (it) looks like it is more exaggerated than in other places. It is a fact of history,” he said.
“Inequality is again a problem of history.”
He was speaking shortly after Economic Freedom Fighters MPs were dragged out of the chamber for trying to prevent him from speaking.