NFP wants age limit for members in Parliament
THE National Freedom Party said it was considering not sending any member over the age of 60 to Parliament and provincial legislatures after the 2024 election, to minimise youth unemployment in the country.
In a statement by the party secretary-general Canaan Mdletshe, he said the party had received submissions from its branches, as it prepared for a policy conference, that the age limit for the NFP’s representatives in Parliament and legislatures should be 60.
“The National Freedom Party is seriously considering setting 60 years as the age limit for its deployees suitable for representing the party in Parliament and provincial legislatures.
“This is one of the submissions the party has received from its members as we prepare for a policy conference to be held towards the end of the year. We have allowed our members to make some contributions and amendments to our constitution. Part of the submissions we have received is that we need to consider the age of people we deploy in the National Assembly and provincial legislatures,” read the statement.
Mdletshe told the Cape Argus’s sister newspaper the Daily News yesterday that as much as the leadership could not decide for branches, as they would have the final say, they believed it was a good submission which he did not believe would be rejected by delegates.
He said unemployment and inequality in the country had reached worrying levels and that there were already projections that if a solution was not found, the government was heading for disaster.
He added that his party was not saying the proposal would be a solution, as Parliament had only 400 seats, but would make a difference because when combined with legislatures, the number of youth that would move to the middle-class level would grow annually because those members who would turn 60 every year would tire and be replaced with young people.
"We have massive joblessness in our country, especially among the youth. Therefore, continuing to choose oldies over the youth is not even an option. We want to make sure that the oldest deployee for the NFP would be 60, not above. It's unacceptable and unfair. It's inconsiderate because part of the reasons why people over 35 years would be unemployed at that age is the government's fault,“Mdletshe said.
He said his party wanted to create space and opportunities for those over the age of 35 because they were a majority of a cohort that was currently searching for work opportunities, adding that the organisation was working around discussions and policies that were pro-poor.
He said it was unacceptable and painful that after 28 years of democracy, unemployment statistics were on the rise, with 65.5% of young people being unemployed, yet they had a black government in power.