If we are hungry, Mantashe's child must also be: EFF's Sihle Lonzi
Speaking to supporters on Monday at the party's VAT victory march, Lonzi said the party won't tolerate ANC leaders' children being preferred for jobs over others.
'We don't have a problem with the children of ANC politicians and ministers. Our fight with them is not personal, but we have a problem with favouritism and nepotism,' he said.
Lonzi's statement came after a recent parliamentary portfolio committee meeting in which he questioned the department of higher education's appointment of Sector Education and Training Authority (Seta) board chairs.
The controversy surrounds Buyambo Mantashe, the son of ANC national chair Gwede Mantashe, who was listed as one of the Seta board chairs. After public outrage, the appointments were withdrawn.
The issue was escalated by the high number of unemployed youth in the country, with the unemployment rate increasing by a percentage point to reach 32.9% in the first quarter of the year. Lonzi argued that politicians' children should not be given preferential treatment when many young people are struggling to find jobs.
'We have a problem if the children of politicians jump the line when young people in South Africa are unemployed.
'If we are unemployed, even the child of Ramaphosa must be unemployed. If we are hungry, the child of Mantashe must also be hungry. If we don't have jobs, even the child of Mbalula must not get a job. We are tired of politicians eating while the youth of this country remain hungry.'
EFF leader Julius Malema has previously called for South Africans to be prioritised for jobs, regardless of language or connections.
'We don't want to know if you're a relative, we don't want to know which language you speak. If you're South African and qualified, get the job. That should be the position of the EFF councillor. We need to prioritise South Africans and our own constituency.'
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Nqwazi was arrested by the Hawks in September 2022, along with the metro's former human settlements director Norman Mapu, businessman Xolani Masela, his spouse Nwabisa, former Democratic Alliance councillors Trevor Louw, Neville Higgins and Victor Manyathi, and Nelson Mandela Bay ANC secretary Luyolo Nqakula. They face charges of corruption, money laundering, fraud and contravening the Municipal Finance Management Act. It is alleged that kickbacks for a toilet tender awarded during the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic were used to reward Louw, Higgins and Manyathi for voting for a motion of no confidence against former DA mayor Athol Trollip. However, an application is pending for Nqwazi to be discharged after the close of the State's case, with her legal team arguing that the State had failed to lead any evidence against her. DM
