Ramaphosa tells ‘Tintswalo’ to keep searching

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s “Tintswalo” analogy has come back to haunt him after meeting an unemployed woman during an ANC election campaign at Orange Farm at the weekend.

The analogy was introduced by Ramaphosa in his State of the Nation Address in February, to highlight the progress that South Africa has made in the past 30 years.

At the weekend, Ramaphosa met a “Tintswalo”, whose real name is Slindokuhle Khoza, a BA Communications graduate from North-West University.

Khoza, the first of four children, told Radio 702 yesterday that she graduated in 2022, and has been looking for a job since to help her unemployed mother.

She said she heard that the president would be in her area and decided to join the campaign in the hope that someone would help her find a job.

“I was very excited. I thought to myself: let me go there, maybe something will happen. I thought the conversation would go differently from how it went. I thought maybe someone would hook me up,” she said.

“At my age, we thought I would be the one to support my family. Before I spoke to the president, three people advised me to wear an ANC T-shirt. One of them even took my contact details.”

In the video circulating on social media, Ramaphosa can be heard asking Khoza about her qualifications and age.

“So, you’re looking for work now?” he asks, to which she responds: “Yes, I am. I’ve been searching online.”

“Yeah, you must keep searching. You must also register on the SA Youth Mobi app,” was Ramaphosa’s response, which has divided South Africans.

While some said there was nothing Ramaphosa could have done for the jobseeker, others said the president’s response was disappointing.

Addressing the Orange Farm community, Ramaphosa said the ANC would aggressively tackle the issue of unemployment in the country.

“The most important priority of the seventh administration, which will be led by the ANC and as outlined in the People’s Manifesto, is job creation. This is our top priority – creating jobs, giving dignity back to our people, making sure we support the livelihoods of our people – that is our main focus,” said Ramaphosa.

“The other accompanying aspect of our manifesto is that we need to address the issue of income. Living costs keep rising and we need to address that.

“We also need to pay close attention to the delivery of services. We need to ensure that our people get proper services so that they lead lives of dignity and in line with our constitution.”