EFF statement on rising levels of unemployment and the State's inherent incapacity to create jobs!
10 May 2016
The Economic Freedom Fighters notes with concern the StatsSA Quarterly Labour Force Survey, which shows that the number of unemployed people had increased by more than half a million between Quarter 1 2015 and Quarter 1 2016. The Quarterly Labour Force Survey further illustrates that 355 000 Jobs were lost between Quarter 4 of 2015 and Quarter 1 of 2016, which is roughly within 3 Months. This happens when the ruling party was elected through an elections promise that they will create 6 million jobs in 5 years.
While the ruling party preferred official unemployment rate puts the unemployment rate at 26.7%, the more realistic expanded unemployment definition put the figure at a severe 36.3%. What this means is that the number of jobless South Africans is now approaching 9 Million South Africans and will soon reach the 10 million disaster. It will be nearly impossible to reverse a crisis of 10 million unemployed people in South Africa.
All efforts by the the current government to create jobs have spectacularly failed to effect any dent on the extent and levels of unemployment in South Africa. The Industrial Development Zones, which were supposed to be cornerstone of job creation in South Africa have only created 10 000 jobs after investments worth more than R10 Billion. The Jobs Fund has created just 11 000 direct and indirect jobs despite the fact that it was presented as a lasting solution to South Africa's jobless crisis.
Despite these realities, the South African government, particularly the department of trade and industry continues to spend 67% of its budget on industrial incentives which benefit multinational corporations, and these happen without clear conditions and commitments to create sustainable jobs by the multinational corporations. As a matter of fact, the automobile industry which is the biggest beneficiary of industrial incentives continue to import more than 80% of their industrial and manufacturing components that could be produced in South Africa through Labour absorptive methods.
The so called black industrialists programme introduced and allocated money in 2016 is a dismal failure. Since the allocation of R1 billion to the department of trade and industry, not a single black industrialist has received any form of financial or non-financial support from the department. Even if they were to receive, the ceiling of money allocated for each black industrialist is inadequate to could play any meaningful role in the economy and will not address the jobs crisis.
South Africa industrial policy, action plans and jobs strategy are poorly conceptualised and continue to be wrongly implemented as it focus on incentives. Incentives that are meant to subsidise companies that continue to preserve billions in their banks instead of investing and creating jobs, while avoiding taxes in billions. There is no clear and enforceable commitments from recipients of incentives to create jobs through upstream and downstream economic activities which would economically empower those who supply manufacturing components and those who trade and distribute afterwards.
Furthermore, the South African government opens South Africa's borders to be flooded with cheap and low quality consumer products from all over the world. South Africa is the most liberal country in the world and there is no political direction on usage of trade and tariff policies to protect local production. The retailers do not see the need for local production and no one is proving political guidance. Malls are opened all over South Africa every 2nd week, and more than 80% of the goods and services traded in those malls are made outside South Africa.
On the current pace and direction, the current government will further plunge South Africa into a deeper jobless crisis. There is clearly no political and ideological leadership and guidance on what is to be done. This is despite the many submissions and perspectives of the EFF on a strategy to create durable and well paying jobs for our people. The EFF's insistence on localisation and deliberate industrial protection are the main pillars towards creation of millions of jobs. The state must procure locally produced goods and services and all other sectors must be led to trade with, retail, and buy the MADE IN SOUTH AFRICA brand.
The EFF is our last hope for jobs through a decisive radical economic transformation, through deliberate state-led industrialisation with Agriculture and building state capacity as key ingredient of the industrial policy. The EFF calls on all people of South Africa to reject the ruling party for continues failures to create jobs. Leaving millions of young people destitute, desperate and bleak future.
The EFF will illustrate through the People's Municipalities the role of the State in simulating Labour absorptive economic activities as outlined in the EFF 2016 MANIFESTO. We are the last hope!
Issued by Mbuyiseni Quintin Ndlozi, National Spokesperson, EFF, 10 May 2016
