“Politicking” may be contributing to the rising unemployment rate

14 May 2019

The release today of the total unemployed population in our country which has increased by 0.5 percent is indicative of the lack of clear policy positions on growing the economy. 

It appears that "politicking" has hijacked the jobs space to enrich a few and not the millions of unemployed South Africans who are suffering particularly in sectors which have seen a significant decline in job numbers. 

Youth Unemployment now rests at a staggering 55.2% of the total unemployed population which represents over 27.6% for the first quarter of this year as announced today by Statistics South Africa's (StatsSA’s) latest Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) 2019. 

The QLFS numbers speak volumes. It is high time that the petty politicking and false promises stop in our country. 

South Africans today are not only experiencing frequent load shedding, but job shedding too. We cannot as a developing economy bleed jobs at the rate we are going, if President Cyril Ramaphosa does not take immediate steps to address the collapse and uncertainty in the labour market for the construction sector, agricultural industries and mining, we will see a steady number of jobs being shed over the course of this year. 

We believe that politicking, in particular within the ruling party should be set aside in order to create policy certainty for investors – both domestic and foreign. 

The IFP believes that the only way our society can prosper is through an economy which works for the people, by the people. Our people are in desperate need of jobs and decent employment and we must as a nation deliver this to see fairness and economic justice prevail.

Issued by Mkhuleko Hlengwa, IFP National Spokesperson, 14 May 2019